


Letter in Ink

by theforgetfulalchemist



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 78
Words: 54,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theforgetfulalchemist/pseuds/theforgetfulalchemist
Summary: Piper asks Annabeth about some old pictures of the famous Seaweed Brain in Chiron's office. Warning: BOO spoilers in the bonus chapter.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 13
Kudos: 120





	1. Chapter 1

Tried to take a picture of love. Didn't think I'd miss her that much.

I wanna fill this new frame, but it's empty.

Tried to write a letter in ink. It's been getting better, I think.

I got a piece of paper, but it's empty.

-The Click Five, Empty

Piper sighed in annoyance, sipping her hot chocolate.

Leo had been in Bunker 9 for far longer than she thought healthy for him, and while that would normally mean some alone time with Jason, he was currently kidnapped by Leo's brothers and sisters wanting to know how his coin-sword worked.

So she was alone lounging in the Big House, sitting on a comfortable couch by the fire, when a blond girl in an orange t-shirt walked in from the camp grounds holding a mountain of books, files, and loose papers.

"Annabeth" Piper greeted her, getting up. "Thank the gods, I've been so bored."

Piper could swear her eyes became a shade lighter gray as she smiled for the first time in who knows how long.

"Good, because I need help with this." Annabeth said, taking the mug of hot chocolate from Piper's hands and taking a drink. "Chiron wants me to organize this."

Chiron's office was cluttered and cramped, making filing all his stuff a hassle, but Piper figured her friend welcomed the distraction. This was how many months now her boyfriend was missing? Leo had been working hard on the Argo and Piper hoped once he was done they would find this Percy boy.

She forced herself to not think about it and instead study the office. The walls were lined with pictures and as she scanned them and went from the black -and -white to the modern photos, she smiled as she saw a familiar face.

"Hey…is that you?"

Annabeth looked up at the picture she was pointing at. In it a young blond girl had her arm around a black haired boy. They were both grinning broadly.

Her eyes swam and became darker like a tornado growing stronger.

"Yes, that's me."

"And is that…?"

"Mm hm. Gods, I forgot how scrawny he was. Did we ever hate each other."

Piper's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Really?"

"Well maybe hate is too strong a word, but, yeah. I thought he was the dumbest demigod I had ever met and he thought I was annoying and stuck up."

"You guys look pretty friendly there."

Annabeth blushed lightly, remembering how her crush on him had made her self-conscious having her arm around him taking that picture even if it felt nice.

"After we got thrown into a quest together, I don't know…I guess we just figured we didn't have to hate each other because our parents do, you know? This picture was taken sometime after we got back. We were twelve at the time."

Piper's heart constricted at the thought of them having so much history together: both in hoping it wasn't cut short and in hoping someday in the future she and Jason could point to pictures and say We were fifteen in that picture! Crazy, right?

She turned her attention to other pictures and when her eyes landed on another of her friend and her boyfriend the glossy color reveled something interesting to her.

They looked about fourteen, Percy siting at the Cabin Three table and Annabeth sitting in the grass beside him. But what caught her attention was their hair. In both Percy and Annabeth's, there was a streak of gray.

"What happened to your hair? It can't be dyed?"

Somehow she doubted it was. Annabeth didn't strike her as the type to dye her hair, much less do something as sentimental as have matching hair with the boy she liked.

Annabeth unconsciously brushed her bangs.

"No…it happened when we took Atlas' place holding up the world."

Piper decided that was probably too long a story to get into.

"I guess…it's gone now. I always secretly liked it."

Piper wondered if Percy's had faded too and if that was a bad omen. She looked back to the photographs.

"That one looks new."

In it, Annabeth looked the same age as she was now.

Now Annabeth's eyes gleamed with a good memory.

"It is. That was last year, when we had just started dating."

"Why are you soaking wet?"

"Everyone threw us into the lake."

"The lake. He can breathe underwater."

"Clarisse never claimed to be smart."

Both girls laughed, smiling happily at each other.

As they continued working, Piper silently prayed to her mother that Annabeth would find her brave, silly, brilliant, seaweed brained boy soon. She wanted to see her friend smile like that more often.

And somewhere on the other side of the country a gangly black haired boy in a faded-out orange t-shirt woke up from a long sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Is that your mom?"

Hazel finally worked up the courage to ask after over a month of seeing that photo over Frank's bed. That morning she had ventured over to his bunk to wake him up for their sentry duty (he had forgotten again) and for whatever reason felt compelled to bring it up.

Frank yawned.

"Ah…yeah." Frank muttered uncomfortably.

"She was gorgeous."

Frank winced at the past tense and Hazel blushed, cursing herself. Didn't he feel bad enough about his mother dying?

Hazel had been surprised to see women serve in the army, not just the legion but modern militaries throughout the world. She felt proud her best friend's (yes, friend she chastised her quickly beating heart) mother died so honorably in service but mostly she just felt horrible for Frank.

"Y'know…" She wavered, sitting next to him on his bed and unconsciously fixing his bedhead. "My mom died too."

"She did?"

Frank had that nervous look he got whenever Hazel talked about herself, afraid he would hit a sore spot and she would clam up.

Hazel wanted to cry. She felt so sorry she couldn't share her past with him because she liked him, she really did. And it hurt to see him like this because she could tell he felt closed off. He probably thought she was distant because she didn't like him but that wasn't it.

"How'd she die?"

"What? Oh…accident, car accident…"

"When was that?"

"Oh, a…last year…not too long before your mother did."

"Oh. I'm really sorry."

Frank made a face like he was biting his tongue for saying something stupid. But Hazel smiled and said

"Thanks, Frank. You too."

"Thanks, Hazel."

"Now get that armor on. We have to be at the gates in five and if Reyna catches us being late again we scrub the stables for a week."

"Okay." Frank said, clumsily pulling a breastplate over his head. "Let's just hope nothing happens on our shift."

"Nothing ever happens on our shift. The whole camp's conspiring to both give us duty together and give us the most boring hours. But at least we can practice French to pass the time." Hazel said as a few miles off a black haired boy was racing to their camp to change it forever.


	3. Chapter 3

As Percy busied himself folding clothes in his cabin on the Argo there was a knock on his door.

"Come in!" He called as he stuffed some jeans haphazardly into a dresser.

Frank opened the door.

"Hey, man. Just wanted to let you know we're out of California. Valdez says we're good. For now."

"Well, that's good news. Great mess we're in, huh?"

"You're telling me. I'm just glad Gwen just retired. I don't think I could fight her…she was like a mom to all of us in the fifth."

"I don't want to fight anyone. Except Octavian. I want to punch him in the face. Repeatedly."

Frank snorted.

"So where'd all these clothes come from?"

"Annabeth packed them. I guess my mom raided my room and gave them to her to bring."

Frank's mouth twitched into a smile at how his friend's face lit up at his girlfriend's name. All week he had been rooting for Percy to be reunited with the girl he had been talking so much about. He was glad Percy was so happy now that they were. Frank had decided he liked Annabeth despite her being slightly terrifying. She seemed to genuinely care about Percy and that made her more than alright in Frank's book.

Percy folded another pair of jeans and something fell out of the pocket.

"Oh good, that's where that was. I was afraid it got lost while I was gone."

"What is it…?"

Frank picked it up and saw it was a photo, several years old and with a sliver of tape stuck to the top like it had once been taped to a fridge or notebook paper. It was a photo of a blonde twelve year old girl, smiling and holding a Yankee's baseball cap.

"Is…is this Annabeth when she was little?"

Percy snatched it away, red faced.

"Don't tell her I still have this, okay? It's embarrassing."

"Why? You took it, didn't you? Or she gave it to you?" Frank guessed.

Percy nodded.

"It was taken after camp ended the year we met. She was on vacation with her dad and she sent it to me."

"So why's it so embarrassing if she knows you have it?"

"Well usually when you have a picture of a friend, you put it on a bulletin board or the fridge or something…"

"And you…?"

"…may have hidden it in my notebook because I had a massive crush on her."

Frank smiled.

"Is that why there's tape on it?"

"Yeah. I couldn't get it off when I had to scrap that notebook."

"She seems nice. I'm glad you found her again."

"Thanks, man. But can I ask you…about Hazel…Leo, he…"

"...He looks like that boy. I know."

Frank looked down at his sneakers. Percy put a hand on his shoulder.

"You have nothing to worry about." Percy stated seriously. "Girls can't resist a doofus best friend. Trust me, I should know."

Frank grinned.

"Oh, shut up."

Percy laughed.

"So that was your master strategy for getting Annabeth to date you, was it?"

"Being as annoying as possible was part of it, yeah."

They both dissolved into hysterical laughter until Hedge called everyone up to the deck.

Frank watched Percy stuff the picture into his jeans as they left the room and thought that if what Percy had said was true maybe, just maybe, he had a chance.


	4. Chapter 4

Annabeth typed furiously on Daedalus' computer that was sitting on the desk in Cabin Athena. The world might be ending, Percy was still missing, but that summer book report wasn't writing itself.

With not knowing if Percy was alive for most of the school year, her performance had understandably suffered. She had been called into the headmaster's office and had been asked if there were personal problems at home causing it, but what could she say? Sorry, my boyfriend was kidnapped by an evil old witch of a goddess so I've been a little preoccupied. So she had said there was none. This report was her last chance to get her grades up before heading off to find Percy and starting their quest to stop Gaea.

There was also the fact that she needed a distraction. This whole thing was so stressful. What if Gaea murdered them all? What if the Romans did? And though she knew it was silly, what scared her the most…what if Percy had forgotten about her? What if, like Jason, he had gotten himself a new girlfriend while his memories were gone?

"Annabeth! Annabeth! Hey, Sis!"

Malcolm had been calling to her from the front door but she had been paying too much attention to the assignment and her worries to hear.

"What is it, Mal? I'm kinda busy."

"Jason's here for you."

"What?"

Jason was standing in the cabin's front doorway, looking sheepish outlined by the night sky buzzing with insects, illuminated by the cabin's porch light.

"May I come in?"

"Sure. What is it?" Annabeth asked, putting her work away.

"Sorry to interrupt…"

"Eh, it's just a book report. Not high on the priority list at the moment."

"Leo just dropped by Cabin One and told me the Argo is ready to sail anytime. We can leave for Camp Jupiter tomorrow."

"That's great!"

"I sure hope this Percy guy of yours really is at my camp."

"You and me both."

Jason suddenly noticed a photo tacked to the bulletin board above the desk. Being senior councilor meant Annabeth had complete control of what went on it and she had chosen to put a picture of Luke, Thalia and herself smack in the middle.

"Hey, that's my sister." Jason commented.

"Oh yeah! We took that just outside Virginia. Some tourist asked us to take some photos for him and he took one of us when we were done."

In it a seven year old Annabeth was frozen in laughter as Luke carried her on his shoulders. Thalia was grinning broadly as she clutched Luke's arm.

"Thalia thought it was the greatest thing ever. I remember being kind of scared so high up on Luke's shoulders."

Jason eyed Thalia's grip on her friend wearily.

"They didn't…I mean, were they…?"

"Oh. Yeah. I always denied it though, because…"

Annabeth stopped herself. Why was she talking about this? She didn't even fully trust Jason. She figured it was because it had been so long since she had a private conversation with someone, so long since she had snuck away with Percy during camp or took the subway to his apartment just to talk.

"Because you had a crush on him?" Jason guessed.

Annabeth glared at him.

"Sorry."

"No, it's alright. I just try to forget that. I mean, he was way older than me, he had Thalia, and he tried to kill Percy, so…"

"Jupiter alive, he did?"

"Like I said. Sore spot."

"I'm sorry." Jason said again. "But then, what about Percy?"

Annabeth smiled.

"I tried to forget that too."

"But…?"

"Turns out he was just too loud and obnoxious to ignore."

Annabeth's eyes glazed over in happy reminiscence; from watching Percy drool as he slept on his first day at camp and thinking he was kind of cute to kissing him under the lake. He had always been hard for her to ignore.

She snapped out of it as she caught Jason smirking.

"None of that matters, though." She said hastily, coughing in embarrassment. "Go tell the others about the ship, okay?"

"Okay. I didn't mean to pry, I just kind of want to know what this kid is like if we're facing Gaea with him. And I figured nobody knows him as well as you."

He used present tense and Annabeth appreciated that.

"He's going to be alright." Jason said. "Camp Jupiter is friendly. Strict, but friendly. If he made it there, and I'm sure he did, he's alright, I guarantee it."

"Thanks, Jason."

As Jason left to tell Piper the Argo was ready, Malcolm looked up from the philosophy textbook he was reading on his bed.

"Looks like your boyfriend's not a goner after all. And here I thought I missed my chance to throttle him for messing with my sister."

"Oh shut up, Mal."

Annabeth returned to her paper and paused to look up at a beautiful full moon out the window. All she could think about was Percy. And across the country, in a much more crowded camp cabin, he stared at the same moon thinking of her.


	5. Chapter 5

Leo gripped the Argo's steering wheel bitterly. They had lost them. No, he corrected himself, he had lost them. Percy and Annabeth were in the deepest cavern in hell because of him. The boy who had saved Jason's camp. The girl who had helped him, Jason and Piper even though they were random stupid kids and not the boyfriend she was looking for. Gone. And it was his fault. Hazel and Nico had said they were alive, but something told him their being in Hazel's dad's domain wouldn't save them.

"Val, er—Leo…" A voice called from behind him. Leo turned around and saw Frank looking at him awkwardly.

"Hey, man. This isn't your fault, okay?"

"Tch. And Archimedes' death ray was built by a Roman."

"He missed her so much."

"What?"

"Percy. He remembered Annabeth the whole time he was with us at our camp."

A lump formed in Leo's throat as he recalled how…he hated to use a machine term for a human, but broken Annabeth had been when he met her. Again, he felt his heart go out to her.

"He thought it was so cool we had a city." Frank continued. "I think…I think he was kind of hoping it meant someday when they got older he could marry her."

Oh gods, really? That piece of information made him feel loads better.

Leo turned on Frank and continued to steer silently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel worse." Frank said. "My point was just…they wouldn't have wanted to be apart. That's why they fell together."

"As long as we're together."

Nico walked out of the shadows to join the boys.

"That's what she said." He elaborated. "When they fell. They chose to go together and believe me, they wouldn't blame any of us for that."

Great. That made them both feel worse.

"Trust me, I've known them since I was little." Nico said. "I know how they think."

He retreated back to the cabins.

Leo and Frank stood in uncomfortable silence. Feeling like his plan to cheer Leo up failed, Frank huffed and turned to leave. But his face softened as he saw a photo, framed and placed lovingly on an end table where Leo could see it as he steered.

"Hey, that's you and your mom, huh?"

"Wha…? Oh, uh huh."

Frank sat down on the deck.

"I wish I could have brought the picture of my mom I have back at camp. Annabeth has a picture of her dad in her room and I bet it makes her feel better, but with the way we left Camp Jupiter..."

"Wow you are just pouring the salt on the wounds today, aren't you?"

Frank winced.

"Sorry, I'm trying to be nice, honest. I mean, we shouldn't fight, Percy and Annabeth need us now."

"Yeah…yeah, you're right."

"Percy saved our camp like it was his own home and Annabeth took you guys in. We owe it to them to get along."

"Yeah, we do. So, uh…what was your mom like…?"

Frank beamed.

"She was the greatest mom ever!" He said. "Even though Grandmother was so mean to her growing up, Mom was never mean to me. What about yours? She looks like she was pretty cool."

"Oh she was! Best mechanic in Huston. Couldn't have been prouder of that. I wanted to be her when I grew up."

"Yeah. Me too."

"I still do."

"Yeah. Me too."

They smiled.

Leo decided then and there he wasn't going to let Percy and Annabeth die. They would live to get married and see their children talk about their parents like he and Frank were now. They all were. Even Coach and Hazel's creepy brother. Nemesis had said there was balance in the world. Leo and Frank's mothers had died but maybe that meant they would live and their kids wouldn't suffer like they did.

Frank slumped into a lawn chair and started dosing and Leo gripped the wheel with determination as the sun slowly rose in the sky.


	6. Chapter 6

They knew they had to do it eventually.

Somewhere in a small village a few miles outside Rome the now five demigods of the prophesy, Nico, and Hedge located a payphone. It was the safest way.

Hedge didn't even have to volunteer. He silently walked up to the phone and dialed.

"Blofis-Jackson residence. Paul Blofis speaking."

"Mr. Blofis, hello. My name is Gleeson Hedge. Is your wife home?"

"Yes, she is. What is this about?"

"Tell her I am a friend of the forest. She'll know what I mean."

"…alright."

Nobody knew if Percy's stepfather was in on the demigod thing. Annabeth would have known.

"Mr. Hedge?" A woman's voice came on the phone. "Are you a satyr?"

"Yes'm. I'm chaperoning an important quest your boy is…was on."

"Percy! He's okay? What do you mean, 'was'?"

Hedge told her what happened. Sally listened stoically and finally said

"Can I speak to Annabeth? She must be beside herself."

"Actually, ma'am…Chase, also…"

Hedge could almost see the bitter smile on the other side of the line.

"Of course. They wouldn't have wanted to be apart."

"You see?" Frank hissed to Leo. Hazel nudged him.

"Thank you so much for telling me this, Gleeson."

"Absolutely. If there's anything I can do…"

"Tell Nico I send him my love. Make him eat more, he's too thin."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I'll call the Chases and tell them the situation. I don't think you want to repeat this unpleasantness."

"That's much appreciated, ma'am. Mm hm. Of course. Good bye. Oh, and Sally? I swear on Pan's grave we will get them back."

"Wow, Coach, you were actually really nice." Piper said as he put the receiver back.

"Shut your yap, McLean."

"Yes, Coach."

In New York City, Sally put her home phone down. She exhaled deeply, trying not to cry.

She concentrated on a photo of Percy when he was twelve, sitting in the grass at camp laughing uproariously. Annabeth was sitting close to him, her head out of her book to grin tenderly at him.

She remembered teasing Percy about Annabeth when he came home that summer, saying he had a new girlfriend. She remembered watching their relationship bloom over the years until she could say with confidence he was head over heels in love with the girl.

She had been so excited when Percy had blushingly told her they were a couple, asking to borrow the car for a first date after camp was over last year.

She could always say she knew he felt strongly for her, but now she knew he would go to hell for her.

If by some miracle her daily prayers were answered and they were returned to her, she swore she would see them married if it killed her.

That cheered her up a little.

She dried her eyes, called Paul over to the room and picked up the phone again to dial the Chase house.

"Fredric…? I'm afraid I have some bad news…"


	7. Chapter 7

Annabeth heard a knock on her door. The hinges squeaked open without her answering as she was tying her hair back, facing the other wall.

Only two people would do that and one was currently asleep, healing from a hoof to the head.

"Hi, Piper."

"Hey."

Piper strode over and sat next to her on the bed. She smiled at her friend wrestling with her hair.

"Want some help?"

"Thanks. My hair never does what I want it to."

"Don't be silly. You never have a bad hair day."

Piper bunched the bright yellow locks together and tried to thread it through the hair tie.

"So, I'm sorry." She said.

"For what?"

"For the disaster that was my Kansas plan. The last thing you need is Percy leaving and coming back unconscious. Considering the past few months, that cannot be great on your sanity."

Annabeth laughed.

"It's gotten to the point over the years that if he comes back at all, I'm alright."

Piper ran her hands through her friend's hair and smirked.

"Regular charmed life. But I mean, when the guys were possessed, I…"

"You what?"

Annabeth looked behind her shoulder at Piper, smiling.

Piper bit back her words. How could she admit this to the best friend she had ever had? I almost let my boyfriend kill yours to save him, sorry about that!

No, she couldn't say it. She feared Annabeth would hate her forever if she did. She had once thought, when she had met Annabeth, that she didn't want the girl as her enemy. Now that they were friends, she felt that way even more strongly.

"Y'know what… never mind."

"Oh…okay."

Piper could see the gears running in Annabeth's mind and feared she had figured it out.

Annabeth said she had no godly powers, but Piper was convinced she possessed near mind-reading capabilities.

"Just, I hope we all get home in one piece, you know?"

Like for instance, without sacrificing possessed boyfriends?

"To be honest, I kind of miss my dad." Piper confessed. "I know that makes me sound like a stupid little kid, but I do."

"That's not stupid at all." Annabeth told her.

Piper gestured to the picture of Annabeth's father she had in her cabin, the one with him and his old plane.

"Your dad looks awesome! Did he really fix that thing up himself?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes but grinned.

"Yeah, using Celestial Bronze. Because he refuses to ever be normal."

"I bet you miss him."

"Eh." Annabeth shrugged. "I've missed him since I was seven. Even when I moved back home after running away, he never had the most time for me."

Piper could relate to that.

"It's not his fault, though. He loves us all a lot but he works so much and I have little brothers who have to come first."

"Heh, I wish my dad had the 'you have little siblings' excuse."

They both laughed.

"I mean, how do you put up with it?" Piper continued, only half-joking.

"I guess with my dad, I can kinda understand because I'm the same way. Athena kids are always in their own heads."

"That sounds like it could get annoying."

"Very annoying. It drives Percy nuts, too."

"What, because you ignore him?"

Annabeth grinned again.

"I'm a pretty useless girlfriend that way."

"You just spent the last half year not resting until you found the guy. I think you lost the right to call yourself a bad girlfriend pretty much ever again."

"Thanks, Piper."

Piper remembered how much she had admired Annabeth for being so determined in looking for Percy, how she felt so connected to him she just knew in her heart he was alive, waiting for her. Piper had also admired how patiently Annabeth had handled the situation.

Now she found herself admiring how she handled her home life. Her father not only had work keeping him occupied like her dad, but essentially a whole other family she wasn't fully a part of. At least, Annabeth didn't feel a part of it. And she bore it with nonchalance. Meanwhile, Piper had stolen so much she had gotten sent to reform school to get her dad's attention.

She promised herself that when Leo called another random provisions stop (he just wanted comics and snack food the magic table wouldn't provide) she would try to find a video rental store and get a movie poster featuring her dad and put it in her room. No matter how stupid he looked.


	8. Chapter 8

Percy flopped down on the couch, turning the TV on with the remote in a huff. Annabeth had taken the kids to see a fencing tournament in the next town over, but he had a sword fighting class to teach down at camp in an hour. He was stuck at home. Extremely bored.

The Hephaestus channel was airing a daylong marathon of a documentary series about the Cyclops' metalworking, which Tyson would enjoy but Percy was not.

Leo really needs to punch his dad in the face for me he thought.

He was starting to think the fire in the fireplace was more interesting. It was at least mesmerizing and therefore kept his attention, rather than making him want to jump into Tartarus again.

Okay, no repeating THAT mess.

He stared at the fireplace, a wedding gift from Hestia which was no different from the TV as the documentary was showcasing the furnaces. His attention wandered to the large photo hanging above it.

It was a glossy print of a picture taken on his and Annabeth's wedding day.

Gods, did he look stupid with the combination of tuxedo (mandated by his mother), armor (mandated by Chiron) and Praetor cape (expected by the Roman guests, enforced by Hazel). But he had felt like the luckiest man alive anyway. Not many demigods could say they were marrying their middle school best friend/high school girlfriend. But there she was holding his hand in the forefront of the frame, absolutely beautiful and his.

He smiled, remembering the day seventeen years ago like it was yesterday.

The picture had been taken in the evening. They were standing with their friends, the five other demigods of the prophesy, a firework in the shape of the Argo going off in the background.

Man, Frank and Hazel weren't even done with their service yet he recalled, seeing them embracing in the photo. Seven marks lined the tattoos on their arms.

Leo had that mad look in his eyes he still had today as he smiled wildly in the photograph. Jason, to Percy's eternal jealously, looked infinitely better in his praetor cape as Piper leaned on his shoulder.

Grinning to himself, Percy turned his gaze to the myriad photos placed on the mantle just under it.

He smiled tenderly at the one of his first son, the day he was born. Annabeth was lying tired but ridiculously happy on the hospital bed while Frank was taking his turn holding him. Percy sat on the bed next to her as they both watched their friend cradle their new baby son. Jason had refused to hold the boy, saying he was scared he'd drop him. Percy had teased him for it as his own son was due in four months at the time.

Percy and Annabeth had made the mistake of letting Percy's mother name him. She decided to call him Odysseus, because that was Athena's beloved hero. Or because "Perseus" hadn't been enough damage.

Many of the other photos were like a time-lapse slideshow of Odysseus growing up. There was one of him still in diapers, playing in the sea (Percy had instilled a love of water in him). Being read his first Dr. Seuss book (Annabeth had imparted to him her love of reading as well). Holding his baby sister when he was a toddler. Blowing out the candles on his most recent birthday, his fifteenth. Bringing his girlfriend home for the first time. Trying to read dressed in his armor after a game of capture the flag as Jason's boy was giving him a nuggie decked out in his high school football uniform.

Percy tore himself out of his memories. He palmed riptide, ready to go trash a few teenagers with it in class, when the phone rang.

"Hi Dad, it's me."

"Odie, are you on a cellphone? Your mother's told you a million times, emergencies only."

"Mom said it was okay. She told me to tell you your team's winning 'cause you have a bet on the tourney with Uncle Jason."

"…Odie, when you meet a girl like your mother, you marry her. You marry her immediately."

"Whatever you say, Dad. Anyway, I gotta go, the match is getting real good! Uh, Mom said not to eat the pie in the fridge until after dinner and that we're having pizza."

"Great! I'm off to teach a class anyway."

"Okay, see you at home, Dad."

"See ya. Love you."

"Yeah, you too, Dad."

Percy uncapped Riptide, put on some armor and walked out the door. He couldn't wait to get back to eat that pie and hear about that match.


	9. Chapter 9

"You guys will not believe what I found in Piper's stuff." Leo announced as he slammed a large ledger on the Argo's dining table.

The other demigods stared blankly.

He had declared an emergency meeting that night. Because Hedge seemed to believe it was about murdering things, Leo had sent him to watch TV in his room.

"This is what you called us out here for?" Frank deadpanned.

"What in heck is it?" Percy wondered.

"Why were you in my room?" Piper asked.

"Reasons. Anyway, to answer your question, Percy…behold!"

Leo flipped the book open dramatically, revealing dozens of photographs with notes of names, dates and events scribbled everywhere.

"It's an old photo album with illegible scribbles." Frank said. "So what?"

But Piper groaned and lightly banged her forehead on the table.

"Leo! Why did you have to show them that? It's embarrassing, I hate it."

"What is it?" Jason asked her.

Annabeth whistled appreciatively.

"I know what that is. I only saw it once before. I guess it makes sense you inherited it now that you're Head."

Piper nodded miserably, blushing.

"The thing is pure evil, but I thought if I brought it at least Drew can't use it for crazy and or maniacal plans."

Percy raised his eyebrows.

"Photo albums are evil…?"

"This one is." Piper said.

"Percy, this is The Big Relationship Book." Annabeth explained. "It details every potential match, every couple, every breakup ever in camp, and it belongs to the Head of Aphrodite Cabin."

"What? No!" Hazel scoffed. "They really keep tract of everything?"

"Oh yeah." Annabeth assured her. "Once, when I was a kid, I stole it to read, right? They are scary good. They predicted The Great Breakup Disaster of 2007 three years before it happened."

Percy's eyebrows shot up higher.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, glad to know our camp's not the only one with people that insane." Hazel said as she pulled the book closer to examine, thinking of how the entirety of Camp Jupiter insisted she and Frank should date.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Frank asked.

"Oh, nothing." Hazel said quickly. "That's beside the point anyway, because this means…"

She leafed through the pages until finding a picture of two familiar figures with black and blond hair smiling by a lake.

"…Percy, Annabeth, you two are in this thing!"

Everyone was suddenly much more interested. Their mild curiosity or boredom turned to knowing smirks.

"What?" Percy cried, grabbing the book from a laughing Hazel.

It was Annabeth's turn to groan and acquaint her head with the table.

"Holy…we really are in here! Annabeth, did you know about this?"

"No." Annabeth responded, looking up from planting her face to the table. "The last time I saw it, you hadn't even come to camp yet. In fact, it was a few days before you did."

"Hey, this is from after the Titan War, when we were at the lake. There was no camera there. No one took a picture there."

"Percy, you don't comprehend how insanely good they are."

"Hey, there's Dan Richards and Jessica Tate, I remember them from my first year! They're off at college now, I think."

"Hey isn't that Rogers, the Apollo kid?" Jason asked, pointing to another picture.

Annabeth snorted.

"Look, there's Clarisse with Chris."

"Not the dating type?" Frank guessed from Annabeth's amusement.

"Not the human interaction type." She answered.

"Your sister, man." Percy informed him. "Have fun."

Frank gulped and Percy laughed.

"We aren't in it, are we?" Jason suddenly shot at Piper, distressed.

"Of course not! I've never written in it! It's mainly a reference book to mess with people's lives."

Jason only looked more horrified.

Percy guffawed at his face until he saw a picture that chilled him.

Silena and Beckendorf.

"Oh. Not so fun anymore."

"Who are they?" Hazel wanted to know, inspecting their photo.

"The old Aphrodite and Hephaestus Heads." Annabeth said.

"They um…they died." Leo told her.

"And they were dating?"

"Yeah. " Percy said. "Man, Beckendorf wouldn't stop talking about her. He always said how lucky he was. Who knew the big dude was a sap?"

"And Silena was always talking about him." Annabeth replied. "Even Clarisse was happy for them, even if it was for such a short while."

"Yeah, well…" Piper huffed, closing the book and hefting it off the table. "That may be part of why we have this, I guess. Because it ends like that so often. We hold on to the happiness we get, y'know?"

"Or you're evil." Leo put in.

Piper shrugged.

"Eh, fifty-fifty."


	10. Chapter 10

Reyna sat in the Praetor office keeping herself occupied by doing paperwork that didn't really need finishing and eating jellybeans from the bowl.

She had had the shock of her life. A new boy named Percy Jackson had shown up at camp and even though he was older, taller, and had no memory of himself, she would recognize him anywhere.

The boy who destroyed her home.

What in the world was going on?

She had always wanted to know where he had come from. And the girl who had been with him…she was pretty sure that had to be Annabeth, the girl he had mentioned remembering. His girlfriend.

A small part of her was strangely disappointed at him remembering that.

She sighed.

I just miss Jason, that's all.

She turned her head to the wall where portraits of Praetors hung. There was one of her and Jason in identical capes, grinning at each other in their Praetor chairs as if to say We did it!

She looked back at her desk where there stood a framed photo of her and Jason as kids, when she had come to camp four years ago and they had become friends.

She missed him so much.

If Percy's one memory was right and Annabeth was his girlfriend she must be as heartbroken as Reyna herself was, holding out that maybe, just maybe, he would return to her.

The only difference is he's waiting for her too. she thought bitterly.

Another small part of her realized Jason didn't feel the same way about her. That he loved her as a friend and respected her as a colleague, but nothing more.

She hadn't needed Venus to tell her that.

But she had always held out hope she could change that. People changed, after all. She had. Dramatically. Four years ago she was not a leader or a warrior. Was it so outlandish Jason could grow to love her?

She was worried she had lost her chance. He had been gone for months.

And yet here Percy was. Was it possible Jason could miraculously appear again, too? She had thought Percy was out of her life forever. Maybe there was hope.

She knew that wasn't likely. If Jason returned, that was no guarantee he would see the light and decide she was the one for him. Whereas with Percy, if he regained his memories and went home, a loving girlfriend was presumably waiting for him.

Again, a small part of her wished that wasn't true.

She sighed once more grumpily, flinging paperwork onto her desk.

"I'll do this tomorrow." She grumbled to herself.

She shut the lights off and walked into the quiet, cold night to her house and towards another day of praying Jason was alive. But tomorrow it would also include talking to Percy Jackson and finding out where in the name of the gods he was from.


	11. Chapter 11

Nico skulked down the Argo's hallway, lost in thought. The last few hours since he was rescued were a roller-coaster ride and his head was spinning. He was desperately trying to think about how they could get to the Doors of Death as quickly as possible when he heard miserable retching from Hazel's room.

He smiled thinly and knocked on the door.

"Sis?"

More retching answered him.

He pushed the door open and found Hazel hunched over a wastebasket, looking pale.

He sat on the bed next to her, brushed her hair away and rubbed her back.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Better…better." She gasped, wiping her mouth.

Nico was glad he left Leo busy at the Argo's wheel and that Frank was asleep. He didn't particularly care for how either looked at his sister.

"Nico…I've been thinking." Hazel continued, kicking the trashcan under her bed. "What if I asked Dad for help? You know, with the Doors of Death."

"What?" Nico cried, alarmed. He grabbed her shoulders. "Hazel! Hazel, look at me. No. You can't. He'll have to make you go back if you do that!"

"Okay, okay! It was just a thought. I just…don't know what to do anymore. Next to Frank, Percy is the best friend I ever had …it wouldn't be fair if they died now, when they just found each other again."

"I know. I'll get them back. I promised. But I won't lose another sister in the process."

"Okay. I understand." She said softly, after a pause. "No sacrifices, got it. Just don't tell Frank about this, it will only upset him."

Nico scowled.

"Yeah, I bet."

Hazel grinned and punched him lightly on the arm.

"I'm serious! When we were in Alaska and I thought I'd have to go back…well, he was more broken up about it than I was."

Nico's sour face softened.

"Oh."

"So go easy on him, alright?" She said jokingly. "He's a really good guy."

"I know. I'm just trying to look out for you. As your brother. It's what I would have done…"

"…It's what you would have done for Bianca."

There was a tense silence.

Nico knew Hazel felt inadequate, almost ashamed, as though she would never live up to Bianca.

He put a hand on her shoulder.

"…Hey. Have I ever shown you what she looked like?"

Hazel shook her head.

Nico dug in the pocket of his aviator's jacket and extracted a photo from the middle of a deck of Mythomagic cards.

It was a photograph of Bianca taken for picture day at the school she and Nico were attending before being taken to camp. Her hair was brushed sleek and tied back perfectly in a ponytail. She smiled radiantly. Like Hazel, she didn't seem like a child of the Underworld .

"She was beautiful."

"She was the best sister I could ask for. And so are you."

He hugged her.

"That's why I don't want to lose you. And why I'm not letting Percy down. He looked after both my sisters. So I'm saving him."

"And…you like Annabeth."

Nico gulped but nodded miserably.

"Can I ask…what happened with Percy and Bianca?"

Nico sighed.

"Few years ago, Annabeth got captured by the Titians, right? My sister was picked for a quest to stop them at the time. Only Percy wasn't chosen, so he sneaked away from camp to go too. He thought nobody else cared Annabeth was in trouble."

Hazel thought about how Percy worried himself sick over Annabeth taking her quest for Athena alone. She knew it was because she was his girlfriend but now she realized it was also because he had lost her before. She could tell they were used to being a team and Percy felt helpless and lost if she was forced away from him.

"Before he left, he promised to bring my sister back to me, but…I never saw her alive again."

"That's awful! Percy must have felt so guilty."

If he had felt so personally responsible for her and Frank after knowing them for a few days, she couldn't imagine how obligated he felt for a friend he promised someone he'd protect.

Nico smiled ruefully.

"He did. But I didn't see that. I only saw how bitter and angry I was he didn't keep his promise."

"You were mad at Percy?"

"And may have tried to kill him, yeah."

"You what."

"The point is" Nico said quickly, "Bianca died asking him to look after me for her. And even though I went sort of insane, he never, ever stopped keeping that promise. So now it's my turn to keep a promise for him."

"That's great of you Nico, I…"

Hazel closed her mouth abruptly and put her hand up for him to wait a minute. She hurriedly dragged the trashcan back out and immediately threw up in it.

"Ugh…It had to be a boat…Leo, I will hate you forever."

"Actually, it's more of a ship…"

"Shut up, Nico."

Nico laughed.

"Speaking of Leo, I should check in on him. He's been steering for a long time." He said, getting up.

"Alright. Good night, Nico."

"Night, Sis. Oh wait, I know."

Nico reached into his pocket again.

"Here, have this."

He held a small plastic figure of a man in his hands.

He put it on the built-in shelf on the wall above the bed.

"You can't ask Dad for help, but I can. Gods sometimes protect against seasickness. I don't know if action figures count as worshiping statues, but maybe this with ease your stomach."

"Is that…supposed to be Dad?"

"Doesn't look like him, does it? But yeah. Bianca gave it to me."

"And you're okay with leaving it here?"

"Of course. You're my sister."

"…Thanks, Nico."

"Anytime, Sis."


	12. Chapter 12

"Can you believe it?" Hazel cried over the wind as she hung onto Arion's neck. "Last furlough day of our service!"

Frank nodded nauseously, clinging to her waist.

The tattoos on their arms sported nine lines. In a few days, Hazel's would add one more, freeing her from serving in the legion. A few months after that, Frank's would do the same.

This was the last day off from duty scheduled until then. They had decided to use the time to visit Frank's hometown up in Canada, which wasn't hard with the fastest and foulest mouthed horse ever.

Arion stopped in front of an iron gate surrounding a yard. Up a sidewalk inside it a little ways, the Canadian flag flew on a flagpole. Surrounding the flag were headstones.

The local military graveyard.

Frank took Hazel's hand and they walked inside in silence. He attempted to ignore Arion's Try anything funny with her and you're toast look.

"Hi there, Frank." The caretaker, and old man shoveling snow off the walk greeted them. "Here to see your old mom?"

"Yeah, Van."

"Well, same place."

"Thanks."

They made their way to a small corner of the cemetery where a white grave stood in the middle of a row of identical ones.

It read:

Captain Emily Zhang

February 3rd 1972- March 15th 2010

Mother, Daughter, Comrade, Friend

Fallen in the line of duty

Taped to the gravestone was a photo of her Frank had put there on her last memorial day. Unlike the picture he kept on his bunk, she was wearing her uniform and saluting briskly.

Her eyes were still warm, though.

Frank took out a bowl and some oranges from his backpack. He arranged the oranges in a pyramid in the bowl and retrieved sticks of incense from a side pocket. He stuck them in the ground but didn't light them.

He closed his eyes in prayer but opened one to see Hazel smirking at how seriously he took the ritual, knowing he didn't believe in it.

"What? I know for a fact Grandmother would haunt me forever if I skipped this stuff."

"I know, I know." Hazel laughed, throwing her hands up in surrender.

Frank opened both his eyes again.

"Hey, Mom. I miss you."

Hazel hugged him from behind.

"I can't believe it's been almost ten years." Frank said.

"I know." Hazel answered. "I remember the day you came to camp. Heh, you looked so young, I thought we were the same age. I was so surprised when you told me you were about to turn sixteen."

"Yeah, and I was so surprised such a beautiful girl was talking to me I fell off my bunk."

Hazel laughed.

"I remember that!"

"Of course you do." Frank said grouchily.

Hazel kissed him.

"Well, I for one was happy our cohort was getting such a good looking new probie. With Jason gone, it was about time, right?"

"Hey, now!"

"Oh, I'm teasing you!"

"Good."

"Gods, it was such a long time ago, though. Can you believe I had a crush on Leo for a while there?"

"Okay! This conversation is over!"

Hazel grinned.

"You do know I'm only joking, right? You're it. I love you. You don't have to worry about that."

Frank grumbled mildly but took her hand.

"Yeah. I do know." He said after a while. "I love you too."

"Frank, is everything okay? You're usually okay with me ribbing you."

"Yeah, it's only just …today, I was hoping…that is…um…"

"What?"

"I mean with our service ending so soon and all, I thought maybe it was a good time to…to…"

"To what, Frank?"

"And it's our day off so we're alone, and…"

"Yeah, and?"

"Gods, you're going to hate me for doing this here…"

"Frank! What is it?"

"Hazelwillyoumarryme."

Hazel stared at him in shock, slowly processing the rushed jumble of a question.

"Frank, did you…did you just ask me to…?"

Frank's eyes were squinted shut in shame and embarrassment but he nodded.

They widened as he felt the warm force of Hazel hugging him.

"Yes, of course!"

"R-really?" Frank whispered, the tension leaving him. He gripped her back tightly.

"Oh this is so great! I can't believe that worked, I messed it all up, I had a speech, and…"

He interrupted his excited ramblings to kiss her.

"But that doesn't matter! I know my service doesn't end for almost a year, but that gives us plenty of time to-"

"Frank!"

The caretaker was calling to him, waving his snow shovel.

"Help an old man out?" He said, gesturing to a large drift of snow.

"Of course, right away!" Frank called back.

"Be right back." He told Hazel hastily, kissing her again and leaving to clear the path.

Hazel smiled, watching him go. She turned to the picture of Frank's mother, saluting and smiling wistfully from a decade in the past.

"I promise I'll take care of him for you, Ma'am. I love your son very much."

Hazel couldn't communicate with the dead like Nico, but she could swear she felt a spirit in Elysium smile.


	13. Chapter 13

Somewhere a few miles outside San Francisco, Percy dropped exhausted on a park bench, trying not to fall asleep. Unfortunately, the cheeseburger he had swiped from a picnic table when a vacationing family wasn't watching hadn't been enough. His hunger and desperation were lulling him to sleep.

He had no idea who he was or where he was going and he felt it would just be easier to fall asleep here and never wake up.

He closed his eyes and did what he always did when he started to feel this way.

He thought of the girl.

The image of the beautiful blond girl was crisp in his memory, like a photograph.

Annabeth.

It was an unusual name. He liked it. He had the impression he never called her "Anna" or "Beth" because he loved the way her full name sounded too much.

He smiled to himself and blushed as a very important part of his memory of her swam in his vision.

She kissed him.

A shiver of joy ran down his spine.

Man, I am a lucky SOB, aren't I? He thought. You are totally way too hot for me.

He knew she couldn't hear him from wherever she was, much less in his mind, but it somehow made him feel better to pretend he was talking directly to her.

Wherever you are right now, I bet you're freaking, because I guess I just disappeared without any warning. Sucks. Believe me, I'm freaking, too. I just wish I could remember more about you. Us. Unless, y'know, we were breaking up or something. That would be a bummer. But I don't feel like we were. I don't know, it's just, when I think about you, I feel warm and safe and happy. I think we were happy together, but like I said, I wish I could remember for sure. Like, when did we meet? And how? Did I ask you out all cool and stuff, or did I make you do it? Have I told you I love you yet? Because I'm sure I do.

The way she whispered through laughter that he was an idiot obviously without meaning it in his memory and how passionately she kissed him made him hope she loved him too.

As he sat daydreaming, a horrible thought crossed his mind.

Oh man, do you know I've lost my memories? Does that mean you're worried I'll cheat on you because I forgot about you? I hope you know I'd never do that! You're pretty much my one reason for going on at this point. And I think you kind of always were.

Percy was ripped back into reality at the distinct sound of a woman offering someone free samples.

Those immortal monsters that had been following him.

He quickly palmed the pen in his back pocket and stood up to race as far away from the park as he could.

And a thousand miles away, the girl from his dreams was thinking about him too, hoping to the gods he remembered her.


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh my gods Dad, was that you?"

Frank was passing the living room absently chewing an ice cream bar when his daughter Emily called to him from the sofa.

She was lounging sprawled on all three cushions flipping through an old photo album. Her helmet was draped over the home phone on the nearby end table, where it was certainly not supposed to go and caked with far more mud than was regulation.

She had just gotten off sentry duty with that new Apollo boy from her Cohort she assured her mother she didn't have a crush on, even though she had been taking more and more time getting home again after each shift.

Frank crammed the rest of his ice cream in his mouth before Emily scooted over for him to sit down, scratching the tattoo on her arm that had three gashes, for every year she had served since she was eleven.

He smiled.

"Yeah."

It was a picture of himself and Hazel a few days before Percy had ended up at their camp. Gwen had had a habit of making scrapbook photos of her Cohort members. And because their obvious feelings for each other had been a camp joke, she hadn't hesitated to take the photograph to tease them.

Hazel had been lying in the top bunk, peering over the edge at Frank who was sitting on the bottom one. They were both laughing over some joke after their guard shift as Hazel's curly brown hair cascaded in front of her face, obscuring the deep gold eyes Emily had inherited.

"You were big!"

"I'm big now!"

"I mean you were fat! And you look about thirteen. Weren't you fifteen when you got to camp?"

Frank pouted which looked more like a scowl on his mature face. Emily looked from her father in the present to her father in the past like it was eerie to see the two versions of him side by side.

"Yeah, well." Frank shrugged. "Grandpa's sons don't stay pudgy for long."

Emily scratched her tattoo harder. It bore a spear symbol, like her father's. When she had joined the legion, she had had to choose between her two godly grandfathers, Pluto and Mars, to identify with. Mars had far more clout, so she had ended up going with him. Which was totally unfair as far as Emily was concerned. Hadn't her mother proven Pluto's worth as a demigod of the prophesy of seven? Hadn't her Uncle Nico, who had helped them?

She wasn't taunted for her lineage like her mother was, but she still had the misgivings about it as her father did when he was young.

"Trust me, I didn't like it either." Frank said, using his dad powers to read her mind. "Heck, I didn't even believe it when he claimed me. Your mother sure didn't."

Emily grinned.

"Because you were a wimp?"

"Because I was too nice. The children of Mars tend to be bullies."

Emily's tattoo was nearly bleeding.

She decided to change the subject.

"Mom looks super short, too. Those statues of you guys in the Forum…in hers, she's as tall as Uncle Leo. Did the sculptor get it wrong?"

Frank laughed.

"No, the night they were finished she broke in and used the flooring to make the statue bigger. She didn't want to be remembered as the shortest. She made me promise not to tell on pain of never speaking to me again."

Emily doubled over in laughter.

"Oh my gods, really?"

"That's just what you and your mother are like. You don't let anyone else tell you who you are."

Emily looked again at her dad and the ghost of a pudgy boy who liked ice cream, was hopelessly head over heels for his best friend and was praying his father was Apollo.

She hesitated. "Mom, she…wasn't put off when you got all macho and stuff?"

"No. Because I never changed how I acted towards her."

"Really?"

"You remember that story where I had to fight those monsters to save your mom from poisoning?"

"Uh huh."

"Do you know what I did when I was done? I almost cried. I hugged your mom and didn't let go, I was so happy she was alright. I knew what the children of Mars become most of the time, and I wasn't about to let that happen to me."

Emily considered that.

"So why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"

She didn't want to admit it was because her new friend was scared of Mars kids and for some reason that made her sad. She remembered learning that and, for reasons she didn't quite understand, telling him her godly grandparent was Pluto when he had asked. He hadn't been afraid of her, which made her happy, which she didn't quite understand either.

"It's nothing, Dad." Emily said, kissing him on the cheek and getting up. "I just have to go tell someone something, that's all."


	15. Chapter 15

It was a peaceful night to a hectic day for Frank.

He was enjoying the cool breeze on the Argo after having a long talk with Jason. Everyone had turned in but he was finally relaxing after taking a death defying trial, becoming a praetor, and getting their friends out of Tartarus.

Most of all though, he was proud of Hazel. Getting the better of a giant with the Mist like that; and he had thought her calmly ending Alcyoneus' life in Alaska had been impressive.

"Hey."

He turned around to see her grinning at him, totally happy and normal, as if she hadn't just help kill a giant about five hours ago.

"Hey." He said as she joined him at the side of the ship and took his hand.

"Octavian is going to blow a gasket when he finds out you're a praetor." Hazel snickered.

"Yeah, I can't wait to order him around."

"I can't believe you led that legion though! You did a great job."

"Eh, you helped kill a giant again, I think your awesome feat trumps mine."

She laughed and fell silent for a moment.

"…Thank you for saving me, back in Venice."

"Of course! I'm just sorry I left you alone and let that happen."

"…And I'm sorry, you know…for how I acted."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, with Leo."

"But you didn't do anything wrong."

"Nothing wrong? Frank, I kiss you one day, and the next I'm all over a boy I just met? That's not fair to you. And I'm sorry."

Frank spluttered.

"Not fair to me? You're the one who got ripped out of your old life. You think I expect you to just be okay with that?"

"Well no, but…you could at least be mad that I…I mean you should at least be…ugh, sometimes I wish you weren't such a good person."

Frank shook his head.

"So what exactly is the problem supposed to be here? You didn't, like, kiss him."

"No, of course not!"

"And you still, y'know, wanna be dating me."

"Frank, of course I do!"

"So why should I be upset? Hazel, I get it. This is hard for you. And heck, even if you did like him, it's not like you're obligated to me."

"Uh, yeah I am. I'm kind of your girlfriend."

Frank raised his hands in front of him.

"Okay, how about this? I'll pretend to be mad, and I'll pretend to forgive you. How does that sound?"

Hazel smiled.

"I'd like that."

"There, see? Problem solved. Besides, it's not like I can blame you for not being completely over Sammy. It seems like he was a great guy."

Hazel grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, he was." She hesitated. "But…the other day, when Arion showed up and I met Hecate…I dunno why, but I got to thinking what my happiest memory was, and it wasn't of Sammy. It was of you."

"O…oh." Frank croaked, stunned.

"And I felt real bad about that."

"Oh."

"But at the same time, I was relieved, because I think that means I finally let go. I don't think I'll ever forget him, but I think I can accept he's gone now."

"I guess I don't have to feel guilty, then."

"About what?"

"I always think how lucky I am to have met you, but I feel horrible when I do because I know it's only because you died."

"Oh Frank."

Hazel hugged him. When he hugged her back, it was the same gentle and warm embrace that made her feel safe. She buried her head in his chest in an attempt not to cry. He really hadn't changed at all and she was overwhelmingly happy about that.

"I'm glad I met you too. Yeah, not so much about the dying part and all, but you definitely. You make up for it."

He looked at her so tenderly, she almost had to stop herself from crying again.

"Hey, are you cold?"

She hadn't noticed she was shivering. He hugged her for warmth which she had the feeling he had been afraid to do on their guard shifts.

"I'm okay. But yeah, it's getting chilly. We should go downstairs. Go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"You gonna be okay out here by yourself?"

Hazel rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"There are no monsters out tonight, I'll be fine."

She kissed him and she felt another surge of relief when he kissed her back as gently as ever.

When he had left she looked out into the night sky, the strong wind blowing her hair everywhere.

She drew an old, dirty, creased photo from her pants pocket. Sammy's face was still beaming from it gleefully, just the same as when it was taken, and when she had found it again in Alaska and she had secretly taken it.

Hecate had said their endeavor was at a crossroads. Maybe she was too.

She wadded the photograph up and threw it like a baseball into the air, watching it catch the wind.

"Goodbye, Sam Valdez. I'll never forget you. I hope you never forgot me. Maybe we'll meet again in the Underworld, but for now I'm here and I'm happy. Considering Leo was born, I don't think you can grudge me that. But I don't think you blamed me, anyway. Just like Frank. You would have liked him. I'm sorry he's my happiest memory now, but I think Hecate was right. I am at a crossroads. And I choose to move forward with him."

She watched the photo fall into the ocean and sink into the waves. She had never felt lighter.


	16. Chapter 16

Vincent and Aeneas Grace were on a role.

Summer vacation had begun so their mother didn't force them to wake up at an inhumane hour to commute to the local town's high school where they were freshman from their cottage at Camp Half-Blood.

She had instead told them their father was already at the arena, teaching their sword class, and that they were to go straight there, claiming she would be spying on them with her knife.

Yeah, right.

They had gone directly to the Big House where they were determined to avoid their lessons. Summer vacation was for vacation.

As they snickered in congratulations on dodging the Dad bullet, Chiron rolled in from his office on his wheelchair that made him seem human.

"Good morning, boys!" He said.

"Good morning, sir." Aeneas answered innocently.

"I bet you two are happy term is over. Enjoying the summer holiday?"

"Yeah." Vincent laughed.

"But aren't you boys supposed to be in combat training right about now…?"

On cue the front door burst open and a burly boy a few years older than the Grace twins marched in.

"Vince! Aeneas!"

"I thought as much." Chiron sighed.

"What are you guys thinking?" The huge boy snarled in exasperation. This was not the first time they tried this. "Do you want Director Grace to kill you?"

"Aw, what can Dad do, James? Give us more sword practice?" Aeneas asked.

"Yeah, Dad's laid back. He'll be cool with it. Honest." Vincent said smoothly.

"Well…" James began and caught himself. "None of that freaky Aphrodite stuff, Vince!"

Aeneas roared with laughter and Vincent cursed his failed charmspeak.

"Follow me now, you little venti." James huffed.

Vincent forced his hands into his shorts pockets and glared daggers at a portrait of his father hanging on the wall, among those of other distinguished campers and camp employees.

"Thanks, Pops."

Aeneas glanced at where his twin brother was directing his wrath.

"Is…that really Dad?"

The boy in the picture looked like their father in his facial features but not his spirit. In the photo he was not too much older than them, maybe a sophomore in high school, but he was severe and grim.

His hair was short and the scar on his lip looked intimidating rather than silly with his taut, unhappy expression. His SPQR tattoo was showing prominently on his arm, and even though he wore a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, he looked far more Roman.

"Yeah, I always forget he was from Odies' camp before he met Mom." Vincent agreed.

The father they knew was always smiling, had wild and kind of long hair, and didn't go around looking emotionally constipated all the time.

"He might as well still be, he makes us practice so much." Aeneas grumbled. "Not even Uncle Percy is this hard about it. And when Emily learned how to transform, did Uncle Frank make her practice it all day? No!"

"…James, if you don't mind, go on ahead, I'll make sure the twins catch up with you." Chiron said.

"Yes, sir."

James left them alone and Chiron turned to the boys.

"What you must understand is your father was born into a hard life he did not necessarily want. When he got to Camp Half-Blood it was like he could breathe for the first time in his life. Though, I suppose, much of his Roman training remains."

Chiron's eyes were light with amusement. "As you boys have made your opinion on clear."

"I'd say he still has a lot left." Vincent said.

"Would you?" Chiron asked in a way that somehow shook the boys' confidence.

They thought about the days their father would call them in sick for morning period at school so they could sleep in, and he would drive them himself. Or days he wouldn't make them go to school at all, and they would have a mini family vacation in the strawberry fields. They thought of the way he tenderly hugged or kissed their mother, still happy and in love after well over twenty years.

"I suggest you think on that. On your way to your lessons." Chiron said knowingly.

At the arena, other girls and boys their age were already gathered and partnered off, doing parrying drills.

Their father was overseeing the chaotic scraping and turned when they got near.

"Well, look who decided to show." He said, but there was a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips.

"C'mon, boys, everyone's paired up, so you can be my partner."

"What, both of us, Dad?" Aeneas asked.

"What, think your old man can't take both of you?" He grinned.

The twins' grins were identical to his except for the lack of their father's scar.

Late that night, Jason couldn't sleep. He decided to take a walk around camp grounds, taking his set of keys so that he could get into the Big House. He stood in the dark lounge room, listening to the clicking bugs and hooting owls in the nearby forest, having a pensive staring contest with his old portrait, bathed in moonlight.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Piper was behind him at the open front door.

"Hey, Pipes. Didn't mean to wake you." He said as she joined him.

"You didn't. I just woke up on my own and noticed you were gone so I went looking for you."

She saw what he was staring at and smiled.

"You were quite the handsome boy, weren't you?"

"I've changed a lot, huh?"

"I don't think so." Piper decided, hugging him from behind and resting her head on his shoulder. "You just stopped pretending to be something you're not, that's all."

"…I'm afraid I'm a bit too hard on the boys with their practice sometimes. It's just…when I think about how we got sucked into a war, when none of us saw it coming, when we all thought we were safe…I want them to be ready."

"They understand." Piper assured him. "Or they will. I think they're just frustrated because you're such an irresponsibly lax parent normally, they can't understand why you're so strict about this."

"Hey!" Jason protested, laughing. "I am not irresponsible."

"I have it on good authority you let Vince play with Leo's power tools the last time we visited him."

"Who's?"

"Leo's."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Of course he'd rat me out."

Piper laughed. "But seriously, don't worry. They know you love them. And I think you wouldn't have been half as good a father as you are if you kept up that stoic tough guy front."

"Yeah." Jason said softly, looking again to his portrait gently illuminated by the moon. Most looked at it and saw a model stoic, strong Roman. He saw a scared little boy desperately trying to take on his role as a leader and mask his fear and unhappiness. "Long time ago, I told Nico not to hide from himself, but now I think I was doing the hiding."

"Well, I like you better this way." Piper concluded.

"Hey, Pipes?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't wake the boys for sword practice tomorrow. It won't kill them to miss a day and sleep in."

Piper grinned and whispered in a sing song voice "Irresponsible parenting!"

"Shut up."


	17. Chapter 17

Percy didn't know how long it had been.

Even in the safety of the Hermes shrine, he was terrified. Not so much for himself, although yes, he liked the idea of dying in the pits of hell about as much as the idea of taking Kelli to the prom.

But the thought of Annabeth dying here chilled him to the bone more than anything deadly thrown at him.

He had fallen with her with the intention of saving her, but then, what good had he been? He was so frustrated with himself. Here he was, half dying and succumbing to depression while Annabeth saved his butt at every turn and put every bit of her will into cheering him.

He glanced at her, dead asleep. His heart almost stopped realizing she could be dead—who knew if the fire water she had last hadn't worn out yet?

But no, her familiar stuffy nose snoring was loud and clear in the abandoned shelter. He had slept next to her like this enough times over the years to have memorized the sound by heart.

He loved that sound.

He hoped his friends were sleeping better than them. With two less fighters, battling monsters through Italy and Greece was going to be two times as hard. At least they had Nico, but Percy was unsure if he was strong enough after days of a coma, starvation, and trying not to die of asphyxiation.

Nico. Just another person he let down. Another person who was better than him. He let Nico's sister, his only family, die. And how had Percy apologized? By barely looking twice at the kid? Meanwhile, Nico had been kind to Bob, who, like Nico, he had thrown away like trash, Percy thought bitterly.

He didn't deserve Nico pulling off this favor for him.

But Annabeth did.

Percy stroked her hair (she always complained about the color, but he thought it was beautiful). He had to get her out, no matter what. She couldn't be another person he failed.

As he was lost in thought, a poof! of fire burst in the shrine and a burned photograph, charring in the acidic air, flew onto the floor.

Percy picked it up.

It was a photo taken at camp right after the Titian War. Somehow, every camper had piled into the frame. Connor and Travis were being stupid, pulling faces and annoying Clarisse. Percy and Annabeth were in the front row. Annabeth was soaking wet from head to foot. Just to be annoying, he hadn't used an air bubble when they got back up out of the lake after having been thrown into it, so she had been drenched.

Someone must have taken it from Chiron's office.

He turned it over and there scrawled on the back were messages in handwriting he recognized. There was Clarisse's chicken scratch reading "Fight them!", Connor and Travis' sloppy print with

"Dad's watching over you guys, I promise."

"Maybe."

"Not helping, Travis."

And Malcolm's perfect cursive stating "You better live so I can kill you myself, you stupid Poseidon boy."

Percy gripped it tightly to his chest and whispered "Thanks, guys."

He looked at Annabeth again. It was about time he woke her so they could move forward.

They were going to be okay.


	18. Chapter 18

"It's a boy, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson."

The nurse placed the small squealing bundle into Annabeth's arms and she beamed lazily as Percy stroked her hair.

"Congratulations." The nurse said.

"Oh sweetheart, he's beautiful!" Exclaimed a voice from the doorway.

"What the…?" Percy sputtered. "Mom, where did you come from? You were waiting in the cafeteria!"

"I'm sorry Percy, I was just too excited to stay away. I couldn't wait to meet my first grandbaby."

"I tried to stop her." Paul put in flatly from behind his wife.

"Mom…"

Annabeth laughed.

"Stop complaining and hold your son, Seaweed Brain."

Percy smiled.

"Okay."

He picked up the little boy who already had sparse strands of his father's hair. When he smacked his lips and blinked, Percy saw he had Annabeth's grey eyes.

"He is beautiful." Percy agreed.

Annabeth squeezed his hand.

"Hey, buddy." Percy whispered, nuzzling the boy's black and pink head. "I'm your daddy."

Eventually their friends began to pile into the small maternity ward room from the cafeteria.

Leo led the way announcing

"Did you know this place has make-it –yourself subs?"

Piper wrinkled her nose behind him.

"He made one with three kinds of hot sauce and mayonnaise."

Hazel rolled her eyes.

"Thus proving my long held theory all you boys have stomachs made of iron."

"That sounds really good, actually." Frank admitted.

"Yeah it does." Jason agreed enthusiastically.

"Case in point."

They all turned as the newest member of their family began to wail in Annabeth's arms.

Piper walked up to Annabeth and hugged her, tears in her eyes.

"Great job, Annabeth."

"Thanks, Piper." She said, grinning. "One down, one to go so far, I guess."

Piper rubbed her own swollen stomach.

"Hey, give him here." Frank said, pulling up a plastic chair by the hospital bed.

Annabeth passed the baby to him and Frank rocked him gently.

"He's such a cutie!" Frank laughed happily as the baby pulled strange faces, as if he couldn't decide if he wanted to eat, sleep or use the bathroom.

"Want to hold him, Jason?" Frank asked, looking up from his chair to him.

Jason looked nervously to Percy and Annabeth.

"I do wanna hold him, it's just…I'm afraid I'll drop him." He confessed sheepishly.

"Really?" Percy chuckled. "Jason, you do realize you're going to be a dad in about four months, right?"

Piper rolled her eyes.

"Not this again. When the baby comes, you are holding him. He is not growing up traumatized because his father never held him."

"Yes, dear."

Piper took the baby instead, tickling his cheek. She passed him to Hazel who asked

"What's his name? You never told us what names you were thinking of."

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other.

"We actually decided we wanted you to name him, Mom." Percy said.

Sally smiled and tenderly took the baby boy.

"Odysseus." She said simply.

"Mom…" Percy protested but Annabeth nudged him.

Percy grumbled "Why? Wasn't 'Perseus' bad enough?"

"Because, sweetheart, Odysseus was Athena's favorite hero. And, after twenty years, he finally returned to Ithaca. I want him to know that no matter what, he can always find his way home."

Leo was rifling through a bag of toys he had brought for the child, mostly dangerous, as he exclaimed

"Aha! Found it!"

He brought out a disposable camera and pointed it at the mass of people assembled by the hospital bed.

He stepped into the frame holding the camera in front of him. Sally had given Odysseus back to Annabeth and stood behind the bed with Paul as Percy perched on the side. Frank, Hazel, Piper and Jason sat in a mix of plastic and cushioned waiting room chairs in a semicircle off to the side.

"Say cheese!"

He snapped the picture and the nurse took the baby away to the nursery. It was proof Odysseus Perseus Jackson would always have a home.


	19. Chapter 19

Emily gripped her spear tightly, her knuckles whitening, wanting nothing more than to leave the dark oppressive throne room.

"You have done well."

Deep in the Underworld she knelt before her grandfather in his cavernous, obsidian palace laced with rubies and emeralds along the walls. It reminded her of her mother's powers. She gripped her spear tighter.

"Thank you, Grandfather." She grit out, her stygian iron spear, a gift from her uncle, reacting to the flooring. It hummed and vibrated in her hand as it connected with other Underworld rock.

She had recently led her first quest as the new Centurion of the Fifth Cohort. It had involved returning some escaped souls to Asphodel for Pluto. As his only descendant in the Legion, she had naturally been chosen.

Now she stood in front of Pluto himself tensely awaiting recognition from the grandfather she had never known. Would he say she was like her mother? Would he just send her off without so much as a nod to their relationship? Would he not care about meeting his only living grandchild for the first time?

"I have a gift for you, Emily." Pluto declared sonorously.

"Th-thank you, my lord."

Pluto nodded behind his throne and a short man with long black hair, a faded aviator jacket and a sword as black as her spear came out of the shadows and smiled.

Emily grinned instantly.

"Uncle Nico!"

She hadn't seen her mother's older brother in months.

"Hi kiddo. How's your mom doing?"

"Good. She wants you to visit soon."

Her uncle smiled again.

"I will, I promise. Your grandpa has just got me running all over the place lately, that's all."

Pluto cleared his throat.

"Your uncle will show you to your reward."

"And…what's my reward?"

Her uncle took her hand and led her out of the palace which she was immensely glad for.

"We're going to see someone." He told her.

"Who?"

"Someone important to you."

She was afraid when they passed the fields he was leading her to Asphodel. She shivered as they skirted the expanse with lifeless souls in eternal trances where her mother had spent over seventy years.

But as they got further and further away her heart warmed as she saw a tree jutting out conspicuously in the flatlands. Her mother and father had talked under that tree. Her father had entrusted her mother with his life under that tree.

This was not the place her uncle wanted to take her, though. They climbed into a dingy beached on a bright shore and sailed across a healthy river to Elysium.

As they landed on the other side someone came to meet them.

It was a beautiful woman, Asian with long flowing hair and the kindest smile she had ever seen on anyone's face, expect her father's.

The woman was wearing army fatigues. Emily recognized it as an old design from the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts.

An old Canadian design.

Her breath hitched as the woman approached her and touched her cheek lovingly.

"Hello, Emily Zhang." The woman said tenderly. "I'm, well…Emily Zhang."

Emily choked up.

"Grandmother!"

Her grandmother pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair. She brushed tears out of her eyes as she pulled away.

"Oh my goodness, look at you." The first Emily Zhang breathed. "You're beautiful, you look like your mother."

Emily had inherited a slightly lighter version of her mother's dark skin and her gold eyes, though her hair was jet black like her father's and grandmother's.

"You…you know about mom?" She forced out from a hotbed of emotion inside her.

"Yes, I do. I've never been able to meet her, but Nico visits often."

She dug around in her coat pocket and drew out old polaroids. One was of her parents, much younger maybe a year or two before she was born, in the Camp Jupiter dinning hall standing up holding hands. Her aunt Reyna was gesturing to them as everyone toasted.

"This was the evening your mom and dad got engaged." Her grandmother said happily. She shuffled through the photographs, progressing in time: her parents' wedding day, moving into their house, her mother moving boxes in her uncle Leo's army jacket and a bandana over her hair….

"Your uncle always comes to show me these pictures." Her grandmother said as she gave Emily a glance into her parents' lives before she had come around. "I'm so grateful to know how well my son's doing. He has a great family."

"I didn't know you did that." Emily looked over to her uncle.

He shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't want to tell your mom and dad. They can't see her. Ever. It would only be painful for them to know."

Finally she came to a photograph of her mom lying in a hospital bed, smiling as her father stood beside her holding a little brown bundle.

Her grandmother embraced her again.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you. Your uncle has told me everything about you. Why, when you were born, he came here crying—"

Emily grinned wickedly. "You cried when I was born?"

Her grandmother laughed. Then she looked at Emily serenely as if she had just made a difficult decision she was glad to be done with.

"The point is I've known about you since the day you were born, and I've loved you from the second I heard about you. I'm proud to say you are my granddaughter, Emily."

"I'm proud to be your granddaughter."

"I'm proud to share a name with such a wonderful young lady. Now that I've seen you in person, I…I think I'm ready."

Her uncle looked pained.

"Are you sure, Emily?"

Captain Emily Zhang kissed him on the cheek.

"Yes, dear. Thank you for being such a great son-in-law."

She turned to Emily and hugged her one last time.

"Tell your father I love him. Tell your mother I don't think he could have chosen anyone better. Train hard with the family gift. I understand you're very good at doing wolf."

"Grandmother, what-"

Still smiling, her namesake dissolved into light.

Her uncle put his hand on her shoulder.

"She's been reborn." He said simply. "She was waiting to meet you. Now she can move on."

Tears ran down Emily's cheeks and her uncle hugged her.

She remembered something her uncle Leo told her once. Nothing lasts forever, not even the best machines.

She smiled, feeling a bit better. Maybe in a way just because things didn't last forever didn't mean they ceased to exist completely, or ceased to matter. There was still an Emily Zhang in the world, after all.


	20. Chapter 20

"Alright! I'm ready!" Percy waved, sticking something into his pocket as he raced up the Argo II's gangplank.

They were anchored in a plaza of a small town in southern Greece for a routine supply run, though the mortals apparently thought a large tour bus was irresponsibly parked. They sometimes muttered about annoying inconsiderate tourists.

"About time!" Leo shouted happily. "Take her away, Festus!"

He flailed a bit with a Wii controller (Percy would never understand how that made the Argo fly and ships were his specialty).

"What took you so long?" Piper asked casually, her attention wavering from a sparring match with Hazel.

"Yeah." Hazel chimed in, disarming her. "We were supposed to get going almost an hour ago."

"Sorry." Percy rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I couldn't find what I was looking for. Had to go all around the place twice."

"A camera?" Frank asked curiously, eyeing Percy's souvenir in his front jeans pocket.

Sure enough, it was a square black and orange piece of plastic. A disposable camera.

"What did you want one for?" Jason asked him in surprise. "I mean you don't like sightseeing. All those old monuments bore you to death."

"It's nothing. Just…something I promised a friend."

Annabeth, who had been sitting on the deck railing reading, didn't look up but her eyes churned the grey of a dead campfire.

That night, they sailed over the green rolling hills of the Greek landscape, Percy standing alone on the deck. He was no longer nervous about breaking curfew with Hedge gone. He watched the silver stars that peppered the clear dark sky.

He flashed photo after photo of one constellation after another.

When the roll of film was used up, he popped it out of the camera, taking his lighter out of his back pocket.

Clicking the lighter on, he lit the film. He threw it down below where it burned up into ashes in the cold air. He silently prayed to Hermes it would end up in a certain shrine in the plains of Tartarus.

"There you go, buddy." He said. "A present for when you wake up."


	21. Chapter 21

Percy leaned over his four-poster, wrestling with his bed sheet, trying to make the corners even.

When he sent a picture of his new college dorm to his mother, he didn't want to be scolded for not making his bed. At age eighteen.

The lazy afternoon sun of New Rome was filtering into his window. He glanced over to the windowsill to see Annabeth deep into one of her textbooks for the upcoming fall term.

"You could help unpack this stuff, you know."

"I'm here for moral support."

"Right."

The door suddenly flew open to reveal two Roman legionnaires, half in uniform, half in street clothes. Frank and Hazel were grinning madly at seeing their friends again. They had evidently ran to find them straight from muster.

Hazel sprinted and tackled Percy, laughing happily, making him fall onto the bed.

Frank looked worried for their safety.

"C'mon, Hazel, don't give him a concussion." He said, still grinning. He threw his purple praetor cape on the bed next to them.

"Oh, he's fine." Hazel insisted, kissing her cousin on the cheek.

Annabeth laughed as they both sat up and Hazel cheered

"Finally!"

Frank sat next to Annabeth.

"Yeah, we missed you guys." He said.

"You too." Percy agreed wistfully, thinking of the day he was chased by Gorgons into Camp Jupiter, and a sad girl and a clumsy boy had been the only friends he had.

He could hardly believe that was two years ago now. He had thought he would never return to his real life. Now he was beginning his freshman year of college with his girlfriend in a week.

And he couldn't believe he was doing it here in New Rome. During the civil war, he had almost lost any hope of his dream of making a life here.

He could smell the pastries and coffee in the bakery. He could hear the laughter of demigods, many of whom he was friends with, as they walked around the nearby camp or in the streets of the city.

He loved this place.

"So how's the camp doing under the glorious leadership of Zhang?" Percy smirked. He really was proud of the big guy for making praetor.

"Great, obviously." Annabeth decided, looking at the well-ordered camp site out the window.

Hazel nodded.

"Frank and Reyna have been doing such a great job!"

Frank blushed.

"Mostly Reyna, though." He mumbled.

"Now, I know that's not true." Annabeth said putting her hand on his shoulder.

"What about you?" Percy asked Hazel, noticing a small silver badge gleaming on her armor. "Centurion?"

"Yeah, well…" She murmured modestly. "Dakota just retired from service, so…"

"Which makes her the senior centurion of the best cohort in the legion." Frank beamed proudly.

Now it was Hazel's turn to blush.

"Reyna appointed her last month." Frank continued. "She already won the Fifth two war games in a row."

"Oh man, war games!" Percy exclaimed. "I almost forgot how fun those are. Think I can still play for the Fifth sometimes?"

"Don't see why not." Hazel said. "You're still an honorary member of the legion, after all."

When the Greeks started moving into New Rome, the Senate passed a law stating all Demigods of Greek descent were exempt from mandatory service, though they were allowed to volunteer.

Percy had opted to go to college instead of finishing his ten years, but he was still on the books as a reserve.

He unconsciously rubbed his tattoo of a trident with a dash cutting through it. He felt like even though he was Greek, his week in the legion irrevocably tied him to Rome. He wondered how Annabeth would feel about that.

"Dakota was happy to step down, though." Hazel was saying. "It means he can start going to school with Gwen. He's going to ask her out before the term's over, mark my words. If he can concentrate that long, that is."

"You think so?" Annabeth grinned.

Frank rolled his eyes.

"You don't know that. You're not Piper."

"Hey, I was right about Leo, wasn't I?"

"I guess that's true."

"Well, I know for a fact" Annabeth whispered conspiratorially. "Reyna's seeing the new Centurion of the First Cohort."

Frank nearly choked. "She never told me that!"

As Percy took his things out of cardboard boxes, Frank and Hazel continued to bring them up to speed on everyone at camp until a horn blew in the golden early evening air.

"Oh, that'll be the war games starting." Frank noted, craning his neck to see some of the cohorts already marching to the Fields of Mars for the event. "Reyna will need me to help ref."

"And I have to get my cohort ready." Hazel added.

They got up to go, Frank reattaching his cape.

"What do you say, Percy? Wanna be on my team?" Hazel grinned.

"Maybe next time." Percy told her. "I better finish unpacking."

"Alright, then."

Frank wrapped Percy and Annabeth both in his trademark bear hug.

"Glad to have you back."

When they had left, Annabeth tore herself away from her textbook to sit next to Percy on the bed.

She leaned against his back as he drew out the last thing to unpack: His graduation photo.

He was in a goofy cap and a gown that was too long for him. But he had been happy because Annabeth was kissing him on the cheek, his parents were proud of him, and even Rachel was there giving him the thumbs up.

And it had been the first step in achieving his most precious dream.

He rubbed his tattoo again.

Annabeth looked him in the eyes and took his hands.

"I think I'm going to be really happy here." She said.

"Okay, the mind reading thing has stopped being cute and has officially become really really scary." He informed her playfully.

She shoved him gently and picked herself off the bed.

"Whatever, Seaweed Brain. I got to get over to my dorm room now. Your roommate will be here soon and I have to get my stuff ready. Dinner with the legion later, right?"

"Yeah. See you."

"Later, Seaweed Brain."

He stayed seated on the bed, staring at the photo. He looked at Annabeth's eyes gleaming with pride and happiness. Proud of him. Happy they were graduating together and going to college in New Rome. Happy to be with him.

He thought he was going to be perfectly content here, too.


	22. Chapter 22

Odysseus always stared at one picture on the mantle in particular.

It was the oldest picture there.

It was older than his baby pictures.

Older than his parents' wedding photo.

In it, his mother and father as scrawny middle schoolers beamed happily into the camera on the hill of Camp Half -Blood, their camp, the camp they had been at before they moved to New Rome. They had their arms around each other as they showed off their new camp beads, his father's first ever.

The photograph had lost its gloss over the years and it had been folded, wrinkled and sometime in their college days, his dad had spilled coffee on the right corner.

But it fascinated him.

It fascinated him to think how long his parents had been together and that they had once been kids like him.

It fascinated him to see them in another life, in the years they grew up on the Greek side, in the years Kronos was only just beginning to rise and the future looked manageable, distant.

His father's eyes looked so full of hope and promise, the eyes of a child who hadn't yet seen war.

His father had been shorter than his mother. His hair was longer than it was now.

He still had his usual smirking grin, as though he was going to tell an inappropriate joke to make his mother angry. But his eyes had a bright clarity that told Odysseus he had not yet been disillusioned by the gods. He had not yet suffered through his best friend being left for dead at the mercy of the Titians. He hadn't yet been ripped from his life without memories of the people he loved, all for a desperate bid at winning a hopeless fight. He hadn't yet fought two wars watching friends die while the gods did little to help.

His mother looked so much like herself it was unsettling. Her eyes still churned with sadness under the hope. Even at twelve, she had lost so much. She had ran away from her home, watched his Aunt Thalia sacrifice herself for her safety, watched the boy she had a crush on grow bitter for it and turn on the camp she loved so much.

He always felt a pang at how many beads she had already strung on her necklace. He thought it was too many for such a young age.

But even though it reminded him of the painful things in his family's past, it made him happy, and for as long as he could remember it stood there and he would spend hours looking at it, feeling drawn to it.

It showed the happy, sad, mature, silly, ridiculous, noble seventh graders that would one day be his parents. That photo was the beginning of the journey they took to become the people they were now.

"Ready to go, buddy?"

Odysseus was shaken out of his reflections by his dad, hauling a duffle bag he could see a breastplate and a gladius was sticking out of.

Oh yeah. War games tonight.

Odysseus smiled.

"Ready, Dad."

He tore his eyes away from the photo and for a moment he swore his father's eyes had the shine of a boy whose biggest problem was a math test and whose best friend annoyed him to no end.


	23. Chapter 23

Leo never really had family pictures.

For obvious reasons, he and his mom had no photos of his father.

His extended family had already been distant even before his mother's death and she had no time to take many herself.

So when he was married, he never expected the family collage to grow as big as it did.

Calypso was fascinated by cameras. She had never seen one before.

"It's just a camera." Leo remarked dryly but affectionately when she took to snapping photographs of their business with the digital camera he had given her for their anniversary.

L&C Valdez Auto Repair they had decided to name it.

"It's still a ridiculous name." Calypso had commented, smiling, holding the ladder as Leo painted it on the garage door.

"You're ridiculous."

So the bulletin board on the lobby wall (where Leo never went much—bad memories) that originally had autoshop flyers, safety reminders, and post-it notes, quickly got replaced by Calypso's "masterpieces".

When their first daughter came, it was quickly replaced by photos of the children.

They all seemed to mostly center on the shop. Like Leo, their children practically grew up in a garage.

His daughter passing her mother tools as she worked under the hood of a car, Calypso's hands frozen reaching out for a wrench. Both their hands were blackened by engine grease. Again, like Leo, she had learned the family biz early and spent most of her days assisting her parents.

His two sons playing at the wheel of a truck docked in the middle of the garage for repairs.

His daughter's fifth grade science fair entry, a working engine she built—gods, even he didn't know how. He had been so proud. He wondered if Hephaestus watched her win that blue ribbon like he did for Leo in the fifth grade.

The time his family spent Dia de Muertos cleaning his mother's grave, Calypso chatting easily to the headstone about the shop, the kids, Leo, as if she was actually sitting in front of her mother-in-law talking the afternoon away.

Without even noticing, over the years of his growing family and his wife's growing camera addiction, these photos overthrew the garage paraphernalia on the bulletin board.

Customers who saw it waiting in the lobby loved it. They said it made the shop seem "family-oriented", "homey", "local".

It meant much more to Leo. It meant having a family again, besides of course the crew of the Argo who would always be his strange, ridiculous, annoying family.

And he began spending more and more time in that lobby.


	24. Chapter 24

Piper wasn't expecting a heavily armed girl in her bed.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she looked up from the Cabin cleanup checklist for the day, the first she had done since becoming senior camper.

There was Clarisse la Rue on the Head Councilor's bunk, decked out in her capture-the-flag armor, her head in her hands.

Clarisse jumped almost as much as she did.

Blushing, she scrambled up and clumsily grabbed at her spear, coughing.

"Sorry, McLean, I uh, I just…"

"…You just miss her, don't you?" Piper asked simply.

Clarisse nodded miserably.

"This was her bed."

There was no need to say who they were talking about.

Piper sat on the bed and pulled Clarisse back down.

"You were her best friend, weren't you?" She asked gently, putting her hand on Clarisse's knee.

Clarisse laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, some friend I was. She only died because I was—"

Her voice broke and she looked away, biting back the adjective. Arrogant? Stupid?

"It wasn't your fault." Piper said, feeling it was a lame thing to say. After all, she hadn't been there, she hadn't watched as the friends the other campers had grown up with sacrificed their lives to protect this place. And she knew from experience it didn't matter if it actually wasn't your fault or not. People need someone to blame, and often it ended up being themselves.

They sat on Piper's bed—Silena's bed—in tense silence for a moment. Clarisse broke it to comment

"Annabeth says Percy's at Grace's camp. Do you think that's true?"

"I don't know." Piper admitted. "I hope so."

"Yeah, me too. Silena died believing we'd have peace and happiness someday. Wouldn't be fair if…you know."

Piper smiled. She had a feeling Clarisse liked Percy more and was more worried about him than her pride allowed her to admit.

She thought back to what Annabeth had told her about the day the Titan War ended, how Clarisse had thought it was "about time" Annabeth and Percy started dating and how she had lead the "dunk the lovebirds in the lake" squad. She figured Clarisse had been rooting for their happy ending and was sorry for Annabeth.

Clarisse coughed and turned red again.

"Not that I'm for peace or anything. If Jackson's on the Roman side like Annabeth thinks he is, I hope he's slaughtering them good. And that he saves me some."

"Of course."

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Clarisse growled at Piper's smirk.

"I'm not looking at you like anything."

"Eh, whatever, McLean." Clarisse muttered. Then she considered Piper for a second and her expression softened. "You're a lot like her. She'd have really liked you."

Piper couldn't think of a better compliment.

"Thanks, Clarisse."

Still smiling she looked down at her checklist. Her face quickly turned slightly panicked and she cursed.

"I have to make sure the bathroom's cleaned up before dinner." She told Clarisse, getting up.

She clasped her on the shoulder.

"But come back anytime, okay? I'd love to talk to you again."

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely, McLean."

When Piper finished with the bathroom (which Drew had left a mess of for her. Everything was caked with old makeup, a million copies of Seventeen Magazine littered the floor and the trash had been dumped out again.)she saw a small photograph propped up on the bed.

It was a photograph of the most beautiful young woman Piper had ever seen. She had long black hair and a radiant smile that made Piper's stomach feel warm. A dark brown arm was around her shoulders, though she couldn't see who it was attached to.

She hadn't seen photographs of her before, but Piper knew it was Silena Beauregard.

She turned it over and on the back, scribbled in barely legible handwriting she assumed was written in the permanent marker they had lying around somewhere:

Drew trashed all the pictures of Silena in Aphrodite but I had this in my Cabin still. Though you all should have it. Appreciate it if you don't go blabbing about where it came from.

-C

Piper proudly taped the picture of her older sister on her bunk next to the rare one of her father in regular street clothes instead of a fancy suit, feeling satisfied in the knowledge Drew couldn't do anything about it.


	25. Chapter 25

Frank stood shivering in the Long Island night with Hazel, but he was giddy with happiness.

Not even the barbed wire, spikes and landmines of Ares Cabin that reminded him of the worst aspects of his father could douse his spirits.

They had survived. Hazel hadn't been forced to go back to the Underworld. He hadn't burned up. None of his friends had died at the hands of the giants. He had spent the whole day in a daze, hardly believing it was real.

They were staying at Camp Half-Blood for a while, but as soon as they got home to New Rome and he could get a break from his praetor duties, he was taking Hazel on a very long date. It was time they enjoyed their reward for not beating around the bush anymore and admitting how they felt for each other. And for saving the world.

Hazel flashed a smile that contrasted beautifully with the darkness of her skin and the night.

"Goodnight, Frank." She said.

"Goodnight."

She kissed him and ran off to Hades Cabin where Nico was waiting for her.

He turned around and his smile left him at the sight of the ghastly foreboding cabin.

Now for the fun part.

He opened the door, snuck in and slowly inched the door closed again so as not to wake his brothers and sisters up.

"The freak's sister? Really?"

Apparently someone was still awake. He searched the room for the source of the voice and saw a girl sitting on her bunk with one leg crossed over her knee like a boy, sharpening a knife.

He recognized her as the Head Councilor, Clarisse la Rue. He had met her briefly when he had eaten dinner at the Ares table earlier that evening, but he still didn't know what to make of the girl.

Percy had told him some…interesting stories about her, involving swirlies, not quite legal capture-the- flag plays that resulted in Percy bleeding, a ship with a huge canon and manned by ghosts and an impromptu bath in the lake.

He also didn't know how to respond to her comment. He felt very offended at his girlfriend being insulted, and he even felt indignant for Nico. Sure, he didn't like the kid either, but that didn't give him the right to call him names. But he didn't want to start a fight with his sister, especially since he was bunking with her and the rest of their very violent and very armed cabinmates for the rest of the week.

So he shrugged passively in a way he hoped seemed manly and nonchalant.

"You mean Hazel? She's alright." He said, but it came out icier and more clipped than he intended. He wanted to make nice with his evil bully siblings and all, but that didn't make him any less put off by anyone who said anything against Hazel. "And Nico's not so bad either, if you give him the chance."

She raised her eyebrows either in surprise or respect and stabbed her knife onto the wooden bedpost.

"Eh, if you say so. I guess anyone who can stand the freak is brave at least. Welcome to Ares, man."

She jabbed her thumb above her to indicate her top bunk.

"Last bed open." She grunted. "Make yourself at home."

"You shouldn't call him that, you know." Frank said, climbing up to his bunk and looking down at her.

Now she definitely raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"But he is a freak." Clarisse informed him, staring up at him as if it was the most obvious thing. Clearly Frank's point had gone right over her head.

"Well…yeah." Frank's face burned with shame at not being able to defend Nico better. "But that doesn't mean you should insult him. He didn't do anything to you and he's is a sensitive kid."

Clarisse shook her head.

"You sure we have the same old man?"

"Unfortunately."

"You sure don't act like it."

"So I've been told."

Clarisse shook her head again, like she didn't believe what she was hearing.

Finally she said

"So the fr-er, di Angelo's sister, Hazel, what's she like? She's gotta be tough as nails." She decided with admiration. "Hanging around you and all. I mean you're an Ares, or uh, Mars kid and you gotta be like twice her size."

Frank laughed.

"Trust me, she is way scarier than me."

He smiled fondly.

"But before, when I first found out who my dad was, I was afraid she was scared of me, wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."

"Well, she'd have been smart to." Clarisse declared. "Violence is kinda in our nature."

"It doesn't have to be."

She eyed him with a mixture of exasperation and amusement.

"I don't think I've ever met a kid of the old man who was anything like you."

Frank chuckled.

"Yeah. I get that a lot."

Was that a touch of bitterness he had sensed in her voice? Was there someone she hadn't wanted to be afraid of her?

For the first time he saw the only photograph she had pinned to her wall.

It was taken at a campfire night. Clarisse was listening complacently and even smiling as a Hispanic boy sitting next to her talked her ear off. They were obviously trying to hide it but Frank could see they were holding hands.

Clarisse's eyes turned from him to the photo and she blanched. She looked up at him in horror to see him smirking.

"Really?" He mimicked.

He dodged the pillow she threw at him, grinning, and pulled his covers over his body.

Maybe all Ares/Mars kids were "big cuddly koala bears with muscles" at heart, he thought, nestling into the matress. It just took the right person to bring that out.


	26. Chapter 26

Connor had been staring at the napkin in a daze for hours.

At dinner he had asked the table for his usual pack of M&M's and haphazardly threw them into the fire as an offering to his dad, chewing on a hamburger.

He wasn't expecting to get anything back.

He dropped his hamburger on the lawn in shock as a small piece of paper was belched out of the fire and landed on his lap like an owl delivering mail in the Harry Potter movies.

"Wha' zat?" Travis asked, devouring his own hamburger beside him.

Connor had tried to control his blanching face.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

His brother gave him a funny look but didn't argue.

Now he stood in the middle of his cabin as his brothers and sisters slept, reading the message over and over again.

Connor,

Give this to Rachel. Not a prank. Don't be a moron.

Love,

Annabeth

It was definitely her handwriting. He had spent years reading that neat scrawl, on cabin cleanup checklists, her plans on the Cabin 6 white board, that year he stole her diary.

But he couldn't believe what the "this" he was supposed to give to Rachel said.

Annabeth had found a really old statue she wanted the stupid Romans' leader to know about, which he didn't understand.

But more importantly was the part that explained, oh yeah by the way, she and Percy were in Tartarus.

You know, the deepest pit of hell, domain of the Abyss, birthplace of reborn monsters.

No big deal.

He couldn't help but think it was unfair. Over the years he watched those two sacrifice themselves more than anyone else for their camp. Last year, he thought they could enjoy their victory in peace when they started dating (though that didn't stop him giving them a hard time about it, suggesting they were doing a little more than "reading maps" whenever they visited each other's cabins).

No such luck. First Percy went missing. Then surprise! There was supposed to be a quest to save the world against yet another supervillian sibling team and guess what? Percy and Annabeth just had to go on it.

No rest for the wicked, he supposed.

He gazed at his cabin's bulletin board forlornly. There was a photo of Annabeth laughing between him and Travis as the three of them presented their beads they had gotten at the campfire. It had been their first.

Well, not Annabeth's. She already had one. She had had an even harder time of it than he and Travis, hadn't even had a brother for someone to suffer with like they did before Luke and Thalia. But she had been nice to them, befriending them and showing them around camp when they had gotten there a year after her.

Well, exept that time he put a spider in her bed and she had chased him down Half-Blood Hill screaming for blood with her knife drawn.

There was another photo taken several years later, when they were gangly middleschoolers. Percy was at camp by then, in his second year. Annabeth was adjusting his armor for him before a chariot race while Connor and Travis knelt inspecting a chariot axel.

There was a recent one as well, but it made his jaw clench. Annabeth was sitting next to Travis at the ping pong table in the Big House rec room. It had been the day they found out about Jason's camp and that Percy was probably there.

Her eyes looked dead. Her hands were folded meekly and she was looking down like all the fight had left her.

Like if some stupid kid put a spider in her bed, she wouldn't even try to kill him.

Maybe the new kids hadn't noticed as they talked about plans for a warship and a diplomatic mission and the quest Rachel's prophecy talked about, which went way over his head when Travis gave him a full report of the meeting.

But he had watched her put on a brave face for their sakes while she was torn apart inside enough times to see when she was doing it again.

And that had gone on. For months. For almost a year.

Was this her reward for all that time of suffering?

No.

No, it wouldn't be.

"Rachel!" he hissed, stalking down the grass toward her cave.

It was way past curfew, but Hermes kids had ways to get around camp without being noticed.

She came out of the cave, pushing the curtain aside and tying a baby blue bathrobe. Her hair was even messier than usual and her eyes were bleary.

"You don't have to shout, Connor. I knew you were coming. What's happened?"

He gave her the note.

With her red hair, she was always pale but even in the dark he could see the color drain from her face.

"What is she talking about?" Connor asked desperately. " There's some statue and she wants you to talk to the Romans? Is she crazy?"

"No. I don't know." Rachel frowned. "I just know she wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

Rachel looked up at him, her green eyes flashing.

"Thanks for telling me. I'm going to go wake up Chiron."

She sprinted in the direction of the Big House.

"Wait!" Connor whispered "The harpies!"

She waved, continuing to run without looking back.

"I'm not technically a camper! They won't bother me!"

Connor sighed and kicked dirt and grass around dejectedly.

He had hoped giving the note to Rachel would make it clearer. She had obviously known what Annabeth meant.

But he did know one thing. They would prove Luke wrong.

They were a family and they would not fail Percy and Annabeth.


	27. Chapter 27

Jason stretched, walking up the steps from the cabins to the Argo's deck, breathing in the cool early morning air off the Greek coast.

He enjoyed being the first one up, having the place to himself for a while so he could think.

"…But that's ridiculous!" Hazel's voice floated down to him, giggling.

Okay, maybe not the only one up.

His ears turned red, thinking for a second he had intruded on a private conversation between her and Frank. He did not want Hazel to have more reason to hate him. And he didn't want to offend the new praetor so soon after they had become friends.

But as he looked up at the crow's nest he saw her sitting with Nico on the edge.

He must have gone up there even earlier than Jason had woken up. Did that kid even sleep? And Hazel must have joined him.

Nico gave a genuine, joyful laugh.

"No, it's true!" he insisted, turning to his sister with a happy smile, as if the boy who cowered in despair in front of Cupid never existed.

He didn't know what they were talking about, but it made Jason's heart constrict.

He put his hand to his jeans pocket where there was an old photograph of a girl with spiky hair and his eyes.

If things had been different, would he and Thalia be like that?

Both Nico and Thalia had found a sibling. But Nico had needed a sister.

Thalia didn't need him.

It pained him to, but he couldn't help but think that if Thalia had shown up on their ship in Greece somehow and saw them all lined up, she'd have run to hug Percy. Or Annabeth. But not him.

Jason was a brother she had only properly met once. Percy was one of her best friends that had been missing for almost a year. She hadn't even known if he was alive or not. She had known Annabeth since she was a little girl.

And then he though if things had been different, would he be that way with Hazel and Nico?

They were technically his cousins. Family. Yet Hazel hadn't forgiven him for seeing abandoning Nico as an option, an opinion for which he was deeply sorry. And he could tell Nico resented him for learning his secret.

He had tried to make friends with both of them and they had both rebuffed him.

"It's nice seeing them that way, huh?" A voice behind him whispered sleepily.

Jason turned around to see Frank smiling at him. He had bedhead and there was a clear stain like drool on the side of his mouth, like he had slept as a dog and slobbered in his sleep. Maybe he did sleep as a dog.

"I always wished I had a brother or sister."

"You do have brothers and sisters." Jason told him "In the Ares Cabin at Camp Half-Blood. I've met them, they're very…"

"Evil?"

"Well, yeah."

Frank laughed.

"I dunno if I'd get along with them. I have the feeling they wouldn't like me much." Frank admitted. He shrugged. "But then, Hazel and Nico didn't like each other when they first met."

Jason felt a twinge of hope.

"They didn't?"

"Nope. Nico was kinda cold towards her. And Hazel was pretty scared of the guy."

Jason couldn't imagine that. He remembered when Nico brought Hazel to Camp Jupiter, just before he lost his memories. But Nico hadn't been around often. He had had no idea what their relationship was like.

Now that he was around all the time, Jason couldn't see them being that way. Hazel was the only person Nico would ever touch. And Hazel clearly adored him, the way she was so determined to save him in Rome and how she sensed his distress over Percy even if she didn't know the cause.

He put his hand in his pocket and gripped the picture of Thalia, the sister who had been a stranger to him his whole life.

Maybe someday he'd look back and he wouldn't believe how distant they had been.


	28. Chapter 28

One calm evening, as the Argo sailed peacefully (for once) over the plains a few miles from Athens, Piper sat alone in the dining room.

In the dim light of the magic oil lamps, she flipped through a book at the table, smiling faintly with her head propped up on her arm as she turned the pages.

Suddenly, loud trampling footsteps crashed down the stairwell and Percy appeared on the landing, swinging his foot as he held onto the banister.

"Piper!" he called. "Annabeth wants us to meet up on deck. We'll be in Athens soon and she thinks…"

He swallowed, obviously trying to keep the sharpness out of his voice.

"…She thinks her mom might be there."

Piper knew he didn't like Athena much and she honestly couldn't help but share his feelings. What kind of mother, she wondered, sent her daughter on a suicide mission?

"…Alright. Be right there." She closed the book.

Percy raised his eyebrows at the thing.

"What's that? It's not that evil photo album, is it?"

She laughed and waved for him to come over.

He joined her at the table and she opened the book again.

"It's a very non-evil photo album."

Percy looked the pictures over and his face lit up.

"Hey, there's Will, and Clarisse…"

He turned to the next page.

"Oh, here's Connor! Why does he look so mad?"

Piper grinned.

"He managed to start a fire in the Big House. Chiron made him be official gopher boy for all the Cabin Heads for the whole summer."

Percy snorted.  
"I bet Travis loved that."

"Oh, he did."

"Hey, that's Chris, isn't it? Are he and Clarisse still…?"

"And still not admitting it."

Percy flipped a third page and suddenly looked gut punched.

There was only one picture on the page, in the top left corner.

It was of Annabeth, sitting alone on the Big House steps. She was smiling but it was thin. Her eyes were hollow and ringed with dark circles. She obviously wasn't sleeping, probably not eating either. Her hair was tangled and her face looked dead tired.

Piper figured because she had cried so much she couldn't anymore.

Percy looked breathless. He swallowed thickly and looked at Piper almost…what? Guiltily?

"I didn't know…I didn't know it was so bad."

Piper grimaced.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." she said, as though Percy disappearing was her fault.

"She tried to hide it as much as she could, but the whole time you were gone…it was like she was dead, Percy."

He stared silently at the photo of his girlfriend as though he wanted nothing more than to go back in time and give her a hug, tell her he was alright and would be home soon.

"Once…" Piper's voice broke. "Once, I was taking a walk in the strawberry fields, and…well I don't know what set her off, but she was there and she just started crying her eyes out."

Piper knew little things could trigger spells like that. Maybe she and Percy had taken a lot of walks there.

Percy didn't explain. He just blanched with a horrified expression. As if it was his fault he wasn't there to comfort her.

"Of course I asked her what was wrong, but" Piper shook her head. "You know how she is. She acted like it was no big deal, like it never even happened."

Percy grinned.

"She does have a very strict tough guy rep to maintain."

Piper knew that all too well. Over the months Percy was missing she watched her friend cry when she thought nobody was looking, take food to her cabin pretending she'd eat it later but leaving it untouched, and lie awake all night and act like she had a full night's sleep.

It had been frustrating, as her friend, to see her suffer so much without being able to do anything because she wouldn't admit anything was wrong. It was as though she were ashamed, thinking people would see her as, what, weak?

As if anyone would think that.

"When we were kids" Percy said "Annabeth told me the problem with all Athena kids is, they want to do everything themselves. She…she doesn't mean it personally."

"She told you, didn't she? About the Mark."

Percy nodded grimly.

"I guessed. She didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want me to tell anyone."

He shook his head and smiled softly.

"I know she can be impossible sometimes, but…thanks for being there for her."

"Of course! Anyway, I wonder how she really feels about seeing her mom again, after…"

Percy grunted violently.

"After what she did?" he spat "I dunno. But I could wring her neck. And she told me to stay away from…"

Percy reddened and Piper smirked.

"Jackson, did Athena not approve of you dating her daughter?"

"She doesn't approve of me breathing the same air as her."

"That's very romantic."

"Shut up."

She laughed, thinking this boy wasn't so bad after all, even if he was a ridiculous seaweed brain who never listened and couldn't take a hint.

Sure, the detention slips and permanent record made him the kind of troublemaking punk she would never get involved with. But she was beginning to see that underneath he had Jason's honesty and bravery.

She thought of the tender smile he had talking about Annabeth and how badly he wanted to protect her.

Nobody who cared so deeply about her friend could be all bad.

She smiled at him warmly and Percy gave her a quizzical look.

Piper shook her head.

"It's nothing. C'mon, our impossible fearless leader is waiting for us."

"Be there in a sec."

As Piper ran up the stairs, Percy flipped to another page of the album.

The next page also had only one photograph.

It was of Annabeth too, but she was laughing uncontrollably. Piper was leaning on her, trying to stifle giggles.

"I'm glad you weren't alone." he said out loud.


	29. Chapter 29

Thalia was still shaking.

Not just from the bridge collapsing, though that had been scary.

It was the insanity of the whole day.

Really, she had been more shocked than she had let on. But her little brother and his friends were scared and lost and they had needed help. They had needed guidance.

And she was used to being the older, mature one.

The other hunters had made a quick camp. They would eat, take inventory of their weapons and supplies and then head off to the Wolf House to free Hera.

Her face contorted in rage at the name. She let fly a kick at a nearby tree, ripping off some of the bark with a short cry of frustration.

Phoebe walked up to her looking concerned.

"Are you alright?" She asked pointedly.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm alright."

She smiled a little. Maybe Annabeth was right and she was a lot like Percy.

Oh gods, Percy. If she was right and Hera took him, if she ruined two of her best friends' lives as well as her own…

She shook her head, defeated.

Trudging into a tent, she plopped down with her head in her hands.

She rubbed her face and took a deep breath.

Sighing again, she put her hand to her parka's breastpocket and took out a photo of a chubby toddler.

His blond hair was tangled, there was spaghetti sauce on his chin, and the fresh scar above his lip bent with his beaming face.

She had never shown it to Luke or Annabeth. The night she ran away she had taken it, not being able to bear the thought of forgetting him. But she had always kept it hidden in her jacket, close to her heart.

Once, in a safe house near Long Island, Luke had taken her jacket by mistake and almost found out.

Maybe he suspected why she had been so good at taking care of Annabeth, why she latched onto mothering her.

It had been so disorienting to see Annabeth grown up when she woke up from her six years as a glorified Christmas tree. The small child with eerily intelligent eyes was suddenly a tall teenager with five years' worth of camp beads who carried her knife like a real warrior and, most surreal of all, had a crush on a boy.

It had been like a flash forward in a movie, where you see the hero as a child and it cuts to their adventures when they grow older.

Seeing Jason like that was even more bewildering.

His scar was faded after over a decade and had successfully melted into a comfortable feature of his face. His hair was neat and his baby fat had transformed into the lean muscle of a fighter.

It was as if the toddler was still there, like an adaptation of a book that was just wrong: some things were the same as a recognizable backbone but the whole had too many things piled on that were unfamiliar.

She didn't believe for a second he was alone his whole life, and she was starting to think she had an idea where he had been, where that old witch had put him for so many years.

But if that were true, that meant he had a normal life growing up without her. She hadn't been there to embarrass him on his first day of school, or to throw him birthday parties or give him girl advice.

He must have friends, maybe even a girlfriend. Woah. What a weird thought. Even weirder than when she realized Annabeth liked the scrappy new kid with a big mouth.

She sighed. That new kid was now one of her best friends. And Hera had taken him away from her too.

She felt guilty for focusing on Percy so much when she had spoken with her brother. Jason probably felt like she didn't care as much about him.

She supposed they both had people in their lives they cared for that the other didn't even know about.

She knew how painful that could be. Percy had barely known Luke before he turned to the bad, and he had been hurt for years by their defense of him.

She looked again at the toddler grinning up adoringly at his big sister.

Percy was gone, maybe forever. She felt even though she had found Jason again, he was even more irrevocably lost. The twelve years they were apart would never come back and their family could never recover.

It was like Hera's punishment. Here's your brother right in front of you but you will never have him back.

First Percy. Now Jason. They had all fought, died to protect Olympus and all they got in return was more abuse by the gods they served. And the worst thing was, they had no choice because the alternative was the destruction of everything they loved. Though it wasn't looking too certain they would avoid that option at the moment. They had no idea where Percy was. Jason was lost, didn't even know where his home was, let alone how he could defend it. She was no surer how they could win this fight than him. It was all so hopeless.

"That's it, Luke..." She murmured. "We lost. You happy now?"

Nobody answered her. She scrunched up her face to keep from crying.

She stood up and gripped her quiver resolutely.

They had to get to Sonoma.

They had a life ruining witch to save.

And hopefully they had a friend and a brother's memories to find.

And hopefully they weren't beaten yet.

Though she could almost hear Luke's bitter laugh, saying he had warned them.


	30. Chapter 30

She didn't mean to do it.

It started when Piper stole Percy's disposable camera.

He had gotten another one after the mysterious destruction of the one he had gotten in that small village.

He wouldn't tell anyone how it happened. Not even Annabeth.

Probably because he knew Annabeth would tell her.

She had taken it from his room as a prank. She was going to see what he was hiding and tease him about it.

He had found out but he was a Hermes kid at heart. He loved practical jokes. He had let her keep it.

She began to annoy everyone by taking photos all the time.

At meals. Rec time on the deck. Whoever was at the wheel at the moment. Whoever was on watch. Jason marveled dryly she didn't run out of film.

And she began to notice things about her friends she never had before.

The way Frank's back straightened around Hazel, like all his self-consciousness was a posture-destroying disease she cured.

The way Hazel smiled back half proud of what he'd become, half hoping he never changed.

The way Percy and Annabeth still looked at each other with love in their eyes but their eyes were now hollow.

The way Leo gazed in a zoned out way when he thought nobody was paying attention, like he was looking at someone far away in his mind's eye. He worried her.

The way Jason's face looked most alive around her, which made her feel giddy with so many emotions, even a child of Aphrodite couldn't identify them all.

After getting them developed in a city they stopped for supplies at, she sat up in her bed at night under the magic lamp and taped them to the pages of the Evil Photo Album.

She hadn't meant it. She hadn't even been fully conscious of it at first. But she began to scribble notes next to them.

Hazel worried about Frank? Possibly because he's changed? Surely she knows his feelings for her won't change?

What really happened to Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus?

Who is the girl Leo found? Because there is a girl.

I hope Jason's happy, even if he's away from Camp Jupiter. He's cute when he smiles.

And just like that she had started a new generation of couples outlined in the book.

A part of her was irritated her mother's influence had taken over. She tried so hard to be more than an Aphrodite kid, obsessing over people's love lives.

Another part remembered what Hazel had told her about using the Mist. Maybe embracing it, instead of forcing it away, was more true to herself.

She thought of Frank, using the bloody powers of the war god to save his friends.

Maybe like using someone's feelings to your advantage in using the Mist, making that aspect of her mom her own instead of pretending it wasn't a part of her, would be more effective.

She knew one thing. Everything she noticed and wrote down, would be to help her friends, not hurt them. Silena had been right. Aphrodite didn't have to be about causing grief for couples.

It could be about helping them alone the way.


	31. Chapter 31

Percy's face burned as he walked down the grassy hill to the Pax in the wind.

He had just left Frank with Hazel, holding her hand in a way even he couldn't mistake.

How could he have been so stupid? He didn't know why, but he felt as if he should know all about liking your best friend and should have seen it.

He remembered Frank's admiration of Hazel for saving Dakota and how he pointedly avoided saying exactly how his feelings toward her and towards her brother differed. He could even swear he caught the big guy staring at her during the war games.

He wondered how Hazel felt. Then he remembered how proud she had been when he was made centurion. How concerned she had been when the Gorgons got him in the Little Tiber. How she stood up for him in front of the legion.

He realized with a start she had been staring at Frank the whole trip.

Man, he was dense.

Noticing all this made him feel a little uncomfortable. Would they want a third wheel? But they were both kind, and they were his friends. Maybe he didn't have to worry. They were, after all, about the only people who made him feel at home in Camp Jupiter.

Mostly, though he couldn't quite pin down why, he felt…wistful? Nostalgic?

It also made the image of Annabeth burn in his mind even stronger.

He knew in his heart she was a demigod. Maybe they had gone on quests together occasionally. He wondered if their third person felt like a third wheel at those times.

As Annabeth smiled in his memory, half sarcastic, half genuine, like she didn't want to quite admit how happy she was, or didn't know how, he heard a shout.

He turned around, set his jaw, and ran back up the hill.

As he raced to help his new friends, he promised her in his head, as he did so many times, that he would find her.


	32. Chapter 32

He was in Elysium for decades before he had the courage.

Sam Valdez strolled leisurely to the end of a row of ornate villas until he was by the shore that leads to the Isle of the Blest.

There was always a rainbow in the sky here.

He drew a gold coin and repeated the chant. He didn't know if it would work. He didn't even know if she was still alive. Time didn't go by the same as in the mortal world.

But he put those thoughts out of his mind. If she were dead, she would have gotten into Elysium and she would have come to see him.

"Show me Hazel Levesque."

Instantly, a piece of the sky carved into an image of a small town house surrounded by Roman style buildings.

There she was, in a patch of the yard, kneeling by a vegetable garden, completely unaware he could see her.

She was maybe in her thirties now, greying a bit prematurely like her mother but as beautiful as he always imagined she'd be had she grown up. Her eyes were the piercing gold he remembered.

She was humming to herself, probably one of the old Southern children's songs she sang when they were young. She smiled with more genuine happiness than he had ever seen in her before, which made her even more lovely.

Suddenly, a man came up the drive, calling for her. He was ruggedly handsome and tall, Asian, and his hair was in a crew cut. He looked like a soldier.

He felt a pang. He knew what was coming.

Immediately, Hazel put down her shovel, wiped the dirt off her hands and gave the man a kiss.

A second ago he would have characterized her husband as a stern, cruel drill sergeant, but seeing how tenderly he kissed her back and the kindness in his eyes as they chatted about their day told him he was a good man.

Then something happened that made his heart constrict in him.

A little girl burst excitedly from the front door.

She had a dark complexion only a little lighter than her mother's, and golden eyes. She had her father's straight black hair.

She ran to her father, tackling his leg, jabbering happily as he picked her up and listened complacently as he held her.

Hazel said something to her and ruffled her hair. She nodded and after being set on the ground, rushed back inside.

Her parents soon followed and as Hazel put her arm around the man, the image flickered and shorted out.

He stood staring up at the cavernous sky, contemplating his old friend's new life. Her daughter that in another life could have been his.

A husband that wasn't him.

A life that might have been theirs.

But it was no use thinking about that.

He smiled to himself and meandered away, only thinking that his little stunt double had done his job.


	33. Chapter 33

Calypso strung feet after feet of yarn on her loom to keep from crying.

Even though there was no one to see her, so she had no reason to be embarrassed, she felt like it was silly. What else should she expect?

Leo was gone. Just like Odysseus, and Drake, and…

And Percy.

She sighed. Losing Percy had been hard but somehow losing Leo was far worse.

Maybe it was because, as far as she could tell, there was no Annabeth for him to return to, nobody to keep him from her.

They could have been happy.

She glanced at a photo propped on a shelf behind her.

She had no idea where it had been taken, but Leo had left it here. He evidently had it in his pocket when he landed. He kept it on display where he could see it clearly as he worked. When he went away, he must have forgotten it.

In it, Leo was standing on a half-finished ship marooned on a field, one foot on its figurehead, a bronze dragon, while a beautiful dark skinned girl gave him what Percy called a nuggie. Somehow it didn't make her jealous the way Percy muttering Annabeth in his sleep every night did. A blond boy stood beside them, grinning.

She thought this other boy was more the type she fell for: tall, handsome, funny, and he even had a mysterious scar.

But it was Leo she couldn't stop looking at. He was even shorter and scrawnier than she remembered him and his unruly hair went everywhere. But he had a strong face like his father and clear eyes.

He had a hopeful smile, like he was beginning to think his life was looking up but was afraid he would be wrong.

She understood that feeling painfully well. She regretted how she had treated him and wished she had a second chance to get to know him without arguing with him. At least they had made their peace before he had to leave her forever.

For the first time, she believed she had found someone who wanted to come back, but she knew that didn't matter. He couldn't.

She thought about the dragon figurehead on Leo's boat. He had said that was the way he would return to her but she didn't see how that was possible even if he restored its body.

Then a real dragon roar pierced the air and startled her so badly she stumbled into her loom, knocking it over.

As she pushed the tangle of string and wood off herself she heard a familiar light voice call

"Hey! Crazy girl! You still here?"

As she grinned even wider than Leo on his worst sugar rush and ran for the door, the Leo in the photograph's small smirk seemed to be saying I told you so.


	34. Chapter 34

Annabeth was jogging alone on her school's track early in the morning. Breathing in the cold East Coast winter air always woke her up.

She was wearing her Camp Half-Blood shirt under a jacket but she didn't have to worry about anyone seeing it: the Mist made her classmates read it as from one of the local mortal summer camps.

She wondered how everyone was back at camp. She couldn't wait for break to start tomorrow so she and Percy could go up to Long Island together. Between her dorm room and the chaos of his parents' new marriage they had not had enough time to be alone.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a figure coming out of the fog toward the track. Slowing down to a halt she saw it was her roommate Emily.

She stopped in front of her, breathing hard. She studied her friend as she caught her breath.

Normally, Emily was a nice girl but the knowing smirk on her face made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"What is it?" She asked immediately.

Emily's smile broadened.

"Annabeth Chase, you've been holding back on me."

Annabeth's heart raced. What if she was like Rachel and could see through the Mist? Could she see the "CHB" on her shirt right now?

But Emily just held up a photo.

It was taken at camp, and showed her and Percy holding hands by the canoe lake.

"You never told me you had a boyfriend."

"Oh."

Annabeth sighed in relief but her face went red.

"Yeah. His name is Percy." She told her. "He's from here. Goes to another school a few blocks away."

Emily broke into a volley of questions. Annabeth had noticed over the months that that was typical of her.

"What school does he go to?"

"Is he in our grade?"

"How old is he?"

"Can he drive yet?"

"Is he a punk? He looks like a punk."

Annabeth was noncommittal with most of her questions. Some were hard to explain without knowing the whole demigod thing.

"At least tell me where you met him!" Emily pleaded. "He's super cute. Where'd you pick someone like that up?"

"We met at a…summer camp. When we were kids." Annabeth said carefully.

"Ooh, you got a childhood friend thing going on, huh?" Emily grinned like she just got a piece of great gossip. "Poor sap, I bet you were the only one who'd take him. Lemme guess, he's been pining for you since you were kids."

Annabeth laughed.

She hoped Percy had feelings for her since then. But that was one of the frustrating things about her boyfriend: how he felt about her was always the one thing she couldn't figure out about him.

"I don't know about that, but we've been friends for a long time."

"And you had the hots for him the whole time, right?"

Annabeth blinked and began to blush. She laughed again nervously.

"You got me." She muttered abashedly. "That was always my biggest secret, so I guess I shouldn't have been mad when he didn't get it."

"He seems to get it just fine." Emily snickered.

Annabeth reddened even deeper. Her eyes involuntarily honed on the photo.

They had been alone on the docks and Percy had pulled her in close as he held her hand. He was going on about a video game she knew nothing about, but it had been nice just hearing him talk.

It was an intimate moment, and she expected Connor took the picture to embarrass them.

And of course Chiron just had to put it on his wall.

It was mortifying that her roommate found it. But strangely, what Emily had just said made her relax.

She tried to hide it, but she felt a lot of anxiety about their new relationship. What if she wasn't good enough, what if someone like Rachel or Calypso came along and he decided he could do better?

But she thought about the photo and how tenderly he held her like he would be content never to let go.

Percy's best trait was his loyalty. If he said he wanted her, she thought, she could believe him.

"Yeah, I guess he does now."

Back in her dorm room, Annabeth dropped a drachma into the small fountain she kept on her desk for Iris messages.

Percy appeared in the mist, in the middle of his cluttered room, pulling on his green basketball jersey with "JACKSON 3" printed on the back. He had said his team had a practice game that morning.

"Hey! Up already?" Percy grinned happily, making her heart flutter.

"Yeah, class starts in a few minutes. Just thought I'd say good morning before I go."

"Well, after tomorrow we won't even have to take the subway to see each other." He said, picking up his tattered black backpack.

Annabeth beamed.

"I know, I can't wait. Good luck with the game, Seaweed Brain. Call me after class."

"Okay! Later!" Percy said opening his door.

"See you at camp tomorrow?"

"Definitely! It's going to be the best camp session ever."

And he was out of the door to catch his bus.

Annabeth sure hoped so. But she figured it didn't matter what happened in the past, what mistakes they made. And it didn't matter what the future had in store.

She had Percy now and that was good enough.


	35. Chapter 35

Jason heaved himself onto the small cot in Cabin One, groaning in exhaustion and frustration.

He wished he had a real bed, like the one he had back in his New Rome house that he was beginning to vaguely remember.

He wished his stupid dad wasn't stupid Jupiter.

He wished this quest wasn't on him.

He wished a lot of things.

Most of all, he wished he could have a nice, normal relationship with Piper. But there were too many reasons they couldn't.

It was hard enough talking to the most beautiful girl he knew about something like that, but when they might have to be enemies?

It had been months since the Grand Canyon and he wasn't stupid: he knew he was falling for her hard.

But if something went wrong that summer, they would be on the opposite sides of a war.

He couldn't stand that. He finally felt like he had a home, and someone who liked him for himself, and it might be taken from him for what?

A grudge and a sense of honor he didn't believe in?

He covered his face with his hands.

Sighing and rubbing his cheeks, he turned his attention to the alcove Thalia had hidden from their dad's statue in.

One photo taped to the wall showed Annabeth at a bench in Central Park with…that must have been Percy.

He had heard a lot about the guy. He was a son of Poseidon, which Jason supposed made them cousins.

But for the first time he considered what else that made him. A son of Athena's enemy.

He wondered what the gods thought about them dating. He thought they couldn't complain, seeing as how they saved the world.

He could relate to their situation, being pressured to fight when all they wanted was to be together.

There was a knock on his door.

Piper came in looking a little oppressed by the thunder and Hippie Zeus but she flashed him one of her radiant smiles.

"Hey, Leo has a report on the ship, if you…Jason? What is it?"

She looked at him in concern and sat on the cot. It groaned under the weight.

"Nothing…" He said distractedly. "I was just thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"About that boy, Percy… Poseidon and Athena are rivals, aren't they? He and Annabeth…they could have hated each other. They should have hated each other. But they didn't."

Piper grinned.

"Annabeth said they tried pretty hard to."

"I guess I just feel like if they can get along no matter who's telling them not to…we can too."

Piper's eyes widened. She seemed to get the implication. She composed herself, coughing.

"There may be…someone…who doesn't agree with that." She said carefully.

"About that" Jason began, facing her and taking her hand. "I've been meaning to tell you. Reyna…I remember. She and I, we never…"

Piper blushed. She definitely understood what that meant.

"Piper, I…"

Jason didn't know what he'd say. That he'd always liked her? That he thought she was brave and smart and funny and everything he could want? That even a civil war wouldn't be enough to make him her enemy?

"Do you want to start over?" She blurted out, startling them both.

Jason felt flushed and he could see Piper turn red.

"I mean, I guess it never happened, so it would be starting for the first time, but you know what I mean and oh gods…" Piper babbled, clearly mortified her talent for smooth talking chose to abandon her.

Jason decided to help but he wasn't much better.

"Yes, I want to start over, I mean start period, I mean…"

Now they were both staring at the floor in shame.

Then they were laughing and before he knew it Piper kissed him.

When she drew back she examined his face tenderly, her eyes reflecting the dim light and occasional lightning bolt.

"Does this mean we're…" Jason croaked.

Piper beamed.

"Yeah, it sure does. I've been waiting months for that."

Jason relaxed and smiled.

"Me too."

Piper gripped his knee, seeming a bit giddy.

"C'mon, lightning boy, Leo's waiting."

It didn't even occur to him to be offended by the nickname.

As she pulled him up from his bed that was far more comfortable now that he had kissed Piper on it, he glanced at the picture of Percy and Annabeth grinning together.

When Percy came home, Jason was definitely going to have to thank him.


	36. Chapter 36

Emily shouldn't have left her boyfriend alone with her father.

Aaron gulped nervously, sweat tangling the golden hair on his brow.

They sat facing each other in the tidy living room full of colorful upholstered furniture, china and family photos.

He had never seen a house so neat. Before the wolves took him to Camp Jupiter he had been living with his single mother in San Francisco who held down three jobs to support them and had no time, and between detentions and how hard he had to work just not to fail school, he didn't either.

But Emily had said her mother was old fashioned and liked a clean house.

He glanced at the photos on the mantle. One showed Emily as a little girl, riding on her father's shoulders through a crowd, her neck strung with plastic Mardi Gras beads.

She had been so cute. And her dad looked so happy to be spending time with his daughter.

Okay, so he's not completely evil. That's a good start.

He looked the man in the eyes and tried not to bolt. He felt stupid in the SPQR T-shirt that was too baggy for him. He suddenly felt ashamed of the probatio tablet on his neck.

Mr. Zhang was a real soldier, a hero in the legion.

He braced himself to hear he didn't want his daughter involved with such a pathetic loser, but he just grinned.

That was a good sign.

"So." Mr. Zhang began. "Son of Apollo, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

He had been claimed his first week of camp, when he had outshot everyone in archery practice.

He had been proud then, but now he felt silly. He eyed Mr. Zhang's forearm with a tattoo of crossed spears with ten lines across them.

Emily's father grinned wider. "Y'know when I first came here, before I was claimed I hoped my father was Apollo. I still think he's better than Mars, but eh" He winked "We work with what the gods give us."

Aaron smiled shyly. "Apollo better than Mars, sir?"

He remembered something Emily had told him and his eyes lit up.

"Emily says you're really good at archery." He said.

Mr. Zhang smiled dryly. "Best in the legion. But that was when archery was seen as barbaric, so it was like being the smartest guy in math club."

Aaron laughed. Mr. Zhang was pretty cool.

His hand swept to an old photograph. It was of a large Asian boy around Aaron's age with a probatio tablet and a much shorter black girl. They were laughing together in the mess hall. In the very back. Alone.

"It didn't exactly make me well liked." He concluded.

Aaron gripped the square of clay on his necklace. He hadn't thought of that. Once, Mr. Zhang had been a probie like him.

"Point is, I know I can trust one of Apollo's boys. Thanks for taking such good care of Emily. I know she's a handful." Mr. Zhang's eyes twinkled. "She's got a lot of her mother in her, I guess."

Mrs. Zhang was a small, unassuming woman but Aaron remembered she was also one of the demigods of the Prophecy of Seven. She was probably tougher than she looked.

Aaron blushed. "Th-thank you, sir."

"You weren't expecting me to say that." Mr. Zhang observed, amused.

"No, sir. I thought you'd hate me." Aaron confessed sheepishly.

"Hate you! Why?"

Aaron rubbed his probatio tablet, not wanting to say what he was thinking.

Emily had several years of service under her belt. She was being groomed for a centurionship, maybe even a praetorship. He was a stupid probie going nowhere. She was wasting her time with him.

Mr. Zhang seemed to know what he was thinking and looked at him sympathetically.

"Everyone's a probatio at first. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Aaron met his eyes, grateful.

Just then Emily rushed in, kissed her father on the cheek and smiled at Aaron.

How'd it go? She asked silently. Dad didn't give you a hard time, did he?

Aaron gave her a thumbs up.

She beamed and said out loud

"Ready to go?"

They were going to have dinner in town that night.

Mr. Zhang rose and shook Aaron's hand.

"Good to meet you, son."

"You too, sir."

"You'll get this little troublemaker home before ten?"

"Dad!" Emily protested, blushing.

"Of course, sir."

"Good. Have fun, you two. Behave, Emily."

"Yes, Dad."

When they had left, Hazel slipped in from the kitchen, polishing a glass.

"Didn't I tell you he was just like you?"

Frank laughed. "Yeah, that was a blast from the past."

Hazel set the glass down and leaned against her husband's back, glancing at the photo of them their first year in the legion, two best friends having lunch together.

"I guess we have a type." She murmured.

"And what type is that?" Frank grinned.

Hazel kissed him. "Hopeless wimpy boys who need our help."

Frank rolled his eyes, still grinning.

"Whatever you say, Hazel. What's for dinner?"

"Your favorite."

"Breakfast for dinner!" Frank exclaimed excitedly.

"You are such a child." Hazel laughed and they walked into the kitchen together under the eyes of their younger selves, a girl and a hopeless wimpy boy who needed her help.


	37. Chapter 37

Percy grinned as he knocked on Annabeth's cabin door.

He was planning on taking full advantage of Hedge going with Nico and Reyna back to camp.

Leo was navigating, Frank and Jason were defending the deck, and there was no insane satyr babysitter to keep him from spending some time alone with his girlfriend.

"Come in."

Her voice was heavy and tearful. With a sickening feeling he lost his good mood as fast as he lost his lunch riding Arion.

He opened the door cautiously.

"Hey." He said gently.

"Hey."

Annabeth was propped on the side of her bed against the wall, reading a Greek grammar textbook.

That was bad. There were only two times she reviewed Greek grammar: when she was teaching the younger kids or when she was very, very upset.

Percy sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't answer for a second. She just put the textbook away and leaned onto Percy's back, resting her chin on the crook of his neck.

Before Percy could register the thought Okay, I got her to put the book down. Progress. Annabeth suddenly began sobbing violently, muted by Percy's shirt but still racking her entire body.

Percy didn't ask questions. He just pulled her into the tightest hug he could manage, whispering it would be alright into her hair.

Unlike the day two years ago he had freaked out when she had needed a reassuring hug in Cabin Six he didn't feel awkward and stunned. He just hoped he could comfort her. He gazed at the top of her head as he cradled her. She didn't make a habit of crying in front of anyone, even him. When she did, it was never over anything he could easily fix. And he had a feeling he knew what was upsetting her.

She tried to speak through tears and a runny nose and involuntary sobs but all he could discern was

"I killed them."

He was right. Bob and Damasen. What happened at the Doors of Death haunted him too. He tried to put up a brave face for their friends, they both did. But for the last few days his nightmares were of Bob accusing him of his murder. Now he suspected hers were similar.

Percy grimaced. He didn't consider she was as tortured by guilt over their deaths as he was. He had considered it so completely his fault, the idea she blamed herself didn't enter his mind.

As Percy was kicking himself, Annabeth was composing herself. She glanced at him shyly. She was always embarrassed by crying around others. She thought it made her seem weak. She had this weird idea people saw her that way because she was blond and blubbering wouldn't help her image.

"I told Damasen to choose his own destiny." Annabeth murmured, solemn and calm. "It was my fault they died."

"No it wasn't." Percy insisted. "Annabeth, he was stuck in a mile wide patch of Tartarus killing a drakon every day. Is that life? Now, when he's reborn, he can leave. He knows there's more out there. You saved him."

"And Bob?" Annabeth asked savagely. "He wasn't stuck anywhere anymore. He could have been free, if he hadn't died. And I let it happen."

"He will be free. When he's reborn. You gotta-" Percy's voice broke. "You gotta believe that. "

"I want to. But Percy, Tartarus…I mean, you know what that place is like. I can't believe in a happy ending for them anymore than I can…than I can believe it for Luke. Or us."

She didn't like to bring up Luke any more than he liked to bring up Rachel but Percy knew she worried about what he got in the Underworld: punishment or reward.

And they were all doubting if they'd get out of this war alive.

"We have to." Percy insisted again. "We have to try for a future for their sakes. We have to keep going so-"

He faltered. Images of a future in a New Rome danced in his mind. Images he still didn't know Annabeth would like. Getting nagged by Annabeth to do his college homework, sharing coffee in the town, playing war games with the legion, and later…maybe later…

To stall bringing up the sensitive topic, he reached for the textbook, and the bookmark fell out as he was putting it on the shelf.

When he picked it up he saw it was the photograph of him and Annabeth smiling at the lake, holding hands.

He smiled softly.

"You kept this?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I like it."

"You complained for a week when Chiron put it on his wall."

Annabeth glared at him and stuck her tongue out and he laughed.

"Whatever." He smirked. "Anyway, you had the night shift, didn't you? Why don't you get some sleep?"

"Nah, I…can't sleep." Annabeth muttered, trying to sound casual.

"Want me to stay with you?"

Annabeth smiled deviously.

"Everyone will talk."

"Let them."

Percy curled up with her on the bed. She nestled into his arms.

As she drifted off to sleep, he looked at the photo where they were giddily happy and wonderfully nervous in their new relationship.

They would be there again. They had a future, thanks to a gentle Giant and a friendly Titan.


	38. Chapter 38

It was dead night and freezing above the Italian hills but Nico stole up the crow's nest anyway, wrapping his aviator jacket tighter around himself.

The only place to sleep was Percy's room, which he didn't much feel like doing. Or Annabeth's.

He didn't feel like doing that either.

So he spent most nights since they left Rome keeping watch and talking to any ghosts he could manage to communicate with for company.

He wished Hazel was there. He wished he could pour his heart out to her, cry, confess, do anything to make everything less painful.

But he couldn't. If she found out he was even more of a freak than she knew…

Like he said, he didn't want to lose his sister.

He closed his eyes and tried to forget but the gentle lull of waves in the Mediterranean wouldn't let him put Percy out of his mind.

He sighed, half in pain half in frustration with himself.

As much as he tried to convince himself it wasn't true, as much as he tried to change his feelings, there was no getting past the truth.

He was in love with him.

Completely and totally in love with him. And always had been.

He groaned into his hands. It was just his luck one of the few times he felt something positive toward someone, it only made him more of a reject.

He had tried to hide it. He made everyone believe he liked Annabeth, but lying only made him feel guiltier.

Lying to Hazel was the worst. He knew she was worried about him. Even if they had known each other for less than a year, she knew him well enough to see something was eating away at him.

He couldn't let anyone know how he really felt. So he was stuck, trapped, backed into a corner.

He did the only thing he knew how to. He closed himself off.

That was fate for the children of Hades. They couldn't rely on anyone else. They sat quietly in the corner, suffering alone, living or dying alone.

Without realizing it he had absently drew out his old Mythomagic deck, still in his coat pocket.

Memorizing the stats on the cards had always calmed him. And it was a way to forget and pass the time.

So he went through the deck, glancing over Zeus, Dionysus, Apollo…

Until he came to a completely different card, stuffed in with his deck.

His ADD made him pretty disorganized. Ever since he was a kid, he had random scraps of paper wedged in the deck: homework, notes he and Bianca swapped, chewing gum wrappers, lose one dollar bills.

He had forgotten he had this.

It was his old school ID. A ten year old boy in a military uniform too big for him flashed a silly grin from a square of the right hand corner.

They were passing over the ocean now. Nico caught a glimpse of his pale face, the rings under his eyes, his heartbroken expression.

"Nico?"

He jumped at his sister's voice. As he hastily put the cards away, Hazel was at the top of the ladder, crawling into the crow's nest beside him.

"Nico, it's almost dawn."

"Already?"

She didn't say anything. She just leaned against him and squeezed his hand.

He squeezed hers back. He had almost forgotten how nice human warmth was.

After sitting like that in silence for a few moments, Hazel whispered

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Nico smiled.

"I'm okay, Sis."

"No. You're not."

He kissed her on the cheek.

"I am. I promise, Hazel."

She looked at him and she seemed so at a loss that he almost wanted to spill everything right then.

But he didn't. He just wrapped her in a hug as they watched the sun rise together, enjoying the feeling of having a sister.

It made him feel like the little boy on the school ID card again, if only for a moment.


	39. Chapter 39

The lanky boy groaned and wiped the black hair out of his eyes.

Blinking in confusion he looked around wildly.

He hadn't woken up in a bed. He was in a courtyard of some kind of…ruin?

That wasn't right. He was positive he did not fall asleep here. He was…he couldn't remember where.

He glanced down. He wasn't wearing pajamas either. He was wearing knee-length jean shorts and an orange T-shirt, the words printed on it faded out.

Taking deep breaths, he tried to keep himself from panicking.

Alright. Start small. My name. What's my name?

It was…Percy. Percy Jackson.

He sighed. Thank the gods…he remembered his own name, at least.

Wait, gods? That was an odd expression, he thought.

He desperately tried remembering anything else about himself, but he couldn't.

He couldn't remember where he grew up, any of his friends, his mother's face.

He kept trying, but the only thing that popped into his head was a startlingly clear image of a girl.

It took his breath away. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Well, he thought, anyway. He couldn't exactly remember seeing any girl to compare her to.

But that was his first reaction. He didn't even know why. She was just a normal teenage girl. Her hair was tangled, she had acne and several scars cut across her face and arms, some fresh some obviously years old.

But she had long gold hair, a strong nose, and a tall, lean figure.

But mostly, there was something about her smile, the way her stunning grey eyes lit up that made his heart beat fast.

He wondered who she was. His girlfriend?

No way, he thought. She was far too gorgeous and her eyes were far too intelligent for her to be the type to get involved with him.

But as he thought that, the image changed and the girl was laughing and calling him an idiot and suddenly she was kissing him.

And he remembered whispering and laughing her name like he'd said it thousands of times.

Annabeth

He started to panic again. Of course, Annabeth! They…well, he couldn't quite remember where they met, or how.

But he remembered she really was his girlfriend.

I have to get back to her he thought.

And he heard the baying of wolves.


	40. Chapter 40

Leo was lying listlessly on his bed in Cabin Nine, not paying much attention to the video game he was playing (though he was grateful to Beckendorf for having the genius to install it).

Tomorrow he would put the finishing touches on the Argo II and he would leave the first real home he had in seven years.

As little as he was able to enjoy camp activities due to his ridiculously long hours in Bunker Nine, he was still going to miss campfire, and capture the flag, and sneaking off to Jason's table at mealtimes, going on quests with Jason and Piper just the three of them.

Mostly, he was nervous. He felt like the best thing he did on his first quest was fix Festus. The real fighting, the real important stuff, Jason did. Heck even the Beauty Queen did more than him.

He could build the Argo, sure, and keep it in repair, but other than that…what could he do?

He sighed and rolled over, throwing his controller on the mattress. He stared at his hands. They were once smooth and a clear light chocolate brown. Now they were caked in oil and soot. The nails were worn and some were bleeding.

He created a small open flame in his palm, the same kind he made when he was alone in the cabin his first day at camp.

He figured he might as well face it: he was a Hephaestus kid. He was bad luck.

He thought somewhat bitterly about the boy who was missing, Percy. He was a child of the Big Three, like Jason. And like Jason, everybody seemed to like him and think he was a hero.

And why shouldn't they? From what they said, he had crazy-powerful moves that put Hedge's goat-ninjitsu to shame. And he saved everyone. He was maybe even responsible for Leo getting claimed at all.

And what could Leo do? Commit arson? Yeah, that was nice. That kid's powers saved their camp and Olympus. Leo's could get him sent to jail.

And assuming Percy and Annabeth were Lucky Contestants Numbers Four and Five in Hera's So You Want to be a Human Sacrifice gameshow that was their stupid life, there were two other demigods they didn't even know about.

He secretly hoped one was a cute girl. Hey, if one girl was taken and practically his sister and the other was taken and mega scary, he had to have some luck with a third, right?

But knowing his luck, she wouldn't even know he existed. Or she'd be another unbelievably strong and talented demigod for him to be jealous of.

Frowning slightly, he put his hands behind his head and his eyebrows arched in surprise.

His arms had caught under his pillow and there was something under it.

He pulled it out and saw it was a picture of a burly boy a few years older than him.

Beckendorf.

He felt gutpunched but he continued to examine it.

With Beckendorf was a beautiful girl who was way out of Leo's league but apparently not Beckendorf's because she was leaning on him and smiling.

Was that Silena…?

Finding a photo of two dead kids wouldn't exactly help Leo sleep at night but it also made him sad somehow.

They had died for a future for their camp, died for kids like Leo who needed this place.

Leo smiled softly and put the photograph back. He didn't want to disturb it. It felt like Beckedorf's final wish.

He gently pounded the pillow with his fist.

"I dunno if we're cursed." Leo said. "But we're winning this for you guys, bro."

He laid back down the pillow, the photo of his brother and Piper's sister nestled comfortably between it and the mattress.

Tonight he would sleep. And tomorrow he would continue their fight for their future.


	41. Chapter 41

"One of you has to win eventually." Jason grumbled.

It was a rare monster-less day as the Argo sailed across the Greek plains and it was clear and warm, so everyone was gathered on the deck enjoying every second of peace and sunshine they could get.

Annabeth and Frank had set up a game of chess on a rickety coffee table with Jason watching.

They were both deep in concentration, staring at the board.

Jason was about to suggest one of them do something but Annabeth raised her hand for silence.

She seemed to think about it for a second before moving one of the white knights a space.

Jason sighed.

"Don't bother, dude." Percy called from the deck railing where he and Hazel were sharing a rag and a tub of oil to clean their swords. "She takes chess way too seriously."

"Yeah." Piper agreed. She was lounging in a deck chair, scribbling in Leo's ship log. Ever since he came back, she had taken it upon herself to fill it in for him. "She's got an ongoing chess war with one of her brothers. So far they have one hundred stalemates and like, one win, but I think that's just because she threw the board in his face."

"Hear that, Leo?" Hazel grinned. "Better watch out, you're right in her line of fire."

"Hm?" Leo turned from where he was welding Festus' bronze plating together, taking off his goggles.

He laughed.

"Hey, if I can survive crashing into a…" He faltered. "Uh, never mind."

He put his goggles back on and continued his work. Leo-speak for "I am done with you organic life forms."

But he tapped on Festus' nose, probably not consciously. It was the phrase in Morse code his mother had taught him, the one he wouldn't tell anyone what it meant.

He also began to hum what sounded like an ancient Greek lullaby softly.

Percy's eyes widened like he recognized the tune, but shook his head like he thought he must be mistaken. Or it wasn't his business.

Suddenly Leo frowned as Festus creaked something insistently.

"Okay, thanks, buddy." He said. He turned to the rest of the Argo's crew. "Recess over, kids. Festus says there's a nest of Harpies about three miles that way." He pointed to a cluster of hills in the distance surrounded by mist.

"A few kilometers away?" Frank repeated. He looked at the chess board. "Guess we have to call a tie."

"No, wait." Piper told him. "I'll be right back." She threw the log on her chair and raced down to the cabins.

She came back in a few seconds with a disposable camera.

"I'll take a picture of the board so you can put it back the way it was when you start playing again."

After taking a picture of it she turned the camera to encompass the entire deck and took another of everyone, Frank and Annabeth still thinking strategy as they eyed the board while Jason looked on exasperatedly, Percy and Hazel laughing at some joke, and Leo smiling at her sarcastically.

She put the camera away before they cleared the deck for combat.

Much later, Chiron would put the photo on his wall to remind himself it wasn't just death and destruction he sent his children to.


	42. Chapter 42

It started with little things.

Percy occasionally saw Leo with the weirdest expressions. When Leo thought nobody was looking he would stare forlornly out at the sky. Sometimes he would sigh alternatively blissfully and painfully like he was remembering someone he loved and then remembering they were gone.

Leo thought nobody noticed, but Percy was ADHD; he tended to notice a lot of random things.

He wondered if Leo missed someone, but who? As far as he knew camp was Leo's only home and the crew of the Argo his only real friends. Did he maybe have a girlfriend back at camp? But from what he caught of Annabeth and Piper's chats he didn't think so. Besides, he had been holed up in Bunker Nine and Hephaestus boys were never very popular with girls at camp.

He had guard shift right after Leo. One night Percy was relieving him on the deck and found him lost in thought gazing at constellations, tracing them in his mind. There was something about the sadness in his face like he had been irrevocably changed and he didn't know if he should be incredibly happy or full of despair that clicked in Percy's mind.

"Hey Leo!"

"Hm?"

"Relieving you, dude."

"Oh…thanks." As Leo took the lantern Percy gave him (he didn't like to use his flames for very long) Percy looked at him inquisitively but Leo didn't respond.

Sometimes at meals, Leo would order something very specific from the magic table. When he seemed to be feeling down or lonely, he would ask it for stew and apple cider.

"Leo, it's not going to give you hard cider. Mr. D won't let it." Piper would joke. But Percy could tell it puzzled her too. Why would he want that meal when he was feeling isolated or homesick? It didn't seem like a traditional family dish of his. And there was something nagging at the back of Percy's head, like he had seen that food somewhere before.

And he would murmur to himself, scratching notes in a notepad during his free time, something about getting back to a place you can't go back to. A puzzle, a conundrum, a job for the perfect machine.

There was one place like that Percy knew, but…

Somewhere off the Greek coast Leo announced he was going to repair Festus. Because ships were Percy's forte he offered to help. Percy held up some of the bronze plating while Leo welded it together with his finger in silence. Leo wasn't the small talk type and Percy hadn't had the chance to get to know him as well as the rest of the crew. Percy hadn't been there when he came to camp, they never went on smaller missions together, and Leo was usually alone on the ship somewhere.

Leo broke the quiet with a whistled tune. It was beautiful, obviously Greek, but Percy blanched like he had just seen Thanatos board their ship to take him away.

He knew that song. Someone had sung it to him in his sleep for days as he recovered from bad injuries.

He almost dropped Festus' left cheek.

"Watch it Percy!" Leo cried.

"Oh…sorry." Percy had accidentally re-positioned the plating so that it didn't fit evenly.

That night, Percy was in his cabin when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Leo was there, covered in oil and grease and soot.

"Hey, I think I might need help in the…" He faltered.

He was staring at a photo on the bulletin board. Annabeth had basically moved the entirety of Cabin Three into his room on the Argo, including his photos.

The central one was of Percy and Annabeth laughing and holding hands in Percy's kitchen. Prominently displayed behind them was a beautiful glowing flower.

A Moonlace.

Now it was Leo who looked like Death was after him. He swallowed.

"I…I think I gotta go…" Leo managed, backing away.

As he turned to run Percy called out "You met her didn't you."

Leo froze and nodded.

Percy felt a jolt of pain and guilt but Leo seemed afraid as if he couldn't read his expression and wasn't sure if Percy was going to hit him or not.

"And you're trying to get back to Ogygia, aren't you. That's what you've been working on."

Leo nodded carefully.

Percy averted his gaze in shame.

Leo stood tensely like he still expected to be beat up.

Percy sighed, swept the bangs out of his eyes and looked at Leo.

"Leo?" He said.

"Yeah?" Leo asked nervously.

"Tell her I'm sorry?"

Leo stared mutely as Percy walked past him, briefly touching Leo's shoulder as he passed.

The next morning, Leo found the section of the photo with the moonlace carefully cut out in his room.

He smiled, taped it to his notebook, and left the cabin to start the day.


	43. Chapter 43

Odysseus lay awake on the air mattress, his hands behind his head. He glanced impatiently at the alarm clock glowing red in the pitch dark.

The family had arrived at his grandparents' New York City apartment building late that night and after Grandma Sally and Grandpa Paul had hastily welcomed them, they had set him and his siblings up in the only extra room: the one that had been their father's.

His sister and the younger of his brothers were dozing in the guest bed while the two older boys shared a mattress on the floor.

But they wouldn't be stuck in the cramped room for long. They were going to Montauk in the morning. He couldn't wait. He needed more real ocean for a change. Back home, every chance he got, he traveled into mortal country to the California coast. His cousin Emily would tease him, telling him he was like a frog, and conclude her point by turning into one and hitching a ride on his head to their legion duties.

As the alarm clock blazed five o'clock, the door squeaked open and a dark shape maneuvered to Odysseus' bed.

"Come on, Odie, let's go. Don't wake your brother." His father's voice whispered.

Unlike Dad, who Mom likely just spent the last half hour trying to wake, Odysseus hoped out of bed grinning. Jumping over his brother, he followed his dad into the kitchen.

His mother and grandparents were there, huddled around the coffee maker.

Mom was sitting at a table, scribbling on a stack of paper. She looked up to smile at him.

"Good morning, sweetie." His grandmother said, pulling him into a hug.

"Morning, Grandma. Mom, what are you grading?"

"Just some Greek essays, hon."

He blanched. His mother was a professor of Architecture and Ancient Greek at the college in New Rome, the one his parents graduated from, but sometimes she filled in for the instructors who oversaw legion classes.

"One of them isn't mine is it?"

"Possibly."

As he groaned, his father ruffled his hair which he was way too old for and asked

"Ready to go, buddy?"

He smiled. "You know it."

"Great. Mom, you know the plan, right?"

"Yes, Percy." Grandma Sally replied good-naturedly. "I have been going there since I was Odie's age, you know."

"Alright, alright." Dad laughed.

"We'll get the others over safely before noon, don't worry, son." Grandpa Paul chuckled. "You and Annabeth just be careful."

The car ride was short and uneventful. Odysseus just played video games with his headphones on while his parents chatted idly in the front. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he supposed Mom was boring Dad to death with one of her architecture history lessons. Well, he'd say he was bored. But Odysseus got the feeling he enjoyed hearing them simply because it was something she was passionate about.

As soon as his father parked in the abandoned parking lot littered with trash that seagulls were picking at, he jumped out of the car.

After stretching out his legs, he ran up to his mother who was hauling a duffle bag out of the trunk.

"Mom, can I go on ahead?"

"Sure, hon. Why don't you take this with you?"

She barely had time to finish her sentence before Odysseus snatched the bag from her and lumbered to the beach as fast as his could with it. (it weighed a ton. Seriously, what'd Mom put in it, her textbooks? Probably.)

It was past dawn now, so he could easily see the expansive, desolate beach and the old family cabin. Apparently, Grandma rented it and took Dad there all the time when he was a kid, before using the money from one of her published books to buy it the year his parents got married, as a sort of collective wedding present.

He unlatched the cabin door and tucked his mother's bag away before racing to the surf. He didn't bother changing into trunks. He never got wet. Before opening the screen door he glanced at the wall where his and his siblings' heights were recorded in permanent marker. Scribbled in his parents' hand and eventually his own was Odie age one, two, three…the most recent was from last year, marked Odie 14. He would have to do another one. He had grown so much this year. He was almost six foot already!

He made a mental note to do that as he ducked out of the cabin to the ocean.

The water was deep blue and unusually calm for the season. At the edge of the beach, waves lapping away the impressions his bare feet made, he peered into the water.

Faces shimmered and smiled in greeting from under the water's surface. Water nymphs, servants of Grandfather Poseidon.

They mostly looked like young women in their twenties but a younger looking one came forward, the one he had a crush on. She seemed his age and looked like all the beautiful girls in the legion all in one.

She smiled pleasantly.

"Good morning, lord! Back for vacation so soon?"

"Yup." He crouched hugging his knees to see her better.

"And how fairs your legion training? You are in your sixth year, I believe?" She looked around. "Is your honored father around?"

As if on cue, Dad came up next to him. He wasn't wearing swim trunks either.

The water nymphs giggled together, bowed in deference to the son of Poseidon and dissolved into bubbles, melting back to the underwater court.

Dad smiled complacently, like this was normal.

"Ready for a swim, Odie?"

"You boys be careful." Mom called from a lawn chair on the beach. She had a book in her hands, The Architectural Landscape of Ancient Greece. Yep. She brought the textbooks.

It was more a walk than a swim, but he liked hanging out with his dad under water. He was the eldest child, the only one born with his father's gifts. He felt like they shared something special.

They meandered farther from the beach, walking over silt and bedrock, weaving through seaweed.

Odysseus pushed past a school of fish and said

"Dad, why is this place so important to our family?"

For as far back as he could remember, they had gone to Montauk every year, even though they lived on the other side of the country.

"Well Odie, like Grandma said, she's been going here since she was your age." His father answered. "It's where she met Grandfather Poseidon. She'd take me here every year, when she could. Your mother and I had our honeymoon here. And it was the first place we ever took you outside New Rome."

"I kind of remember that." Odysseus recalled.

He had been one. Mom had put him down to toddle and he had immediately escaped into the surf. He had given his mother a heart attack and confirmed he had his father's powers at the same time.

"Ah, here we are." Dad announced. They had come across a house built under the ocean.

It was a sort of underwater version of their Montauk cabin, only it was carved from coral and eroded into a round shape by the current.

"This is Grandfather Poseidon's summer home." Dad explained. "That's how he met Grandma."

Dad took out a pocket knife and handed it to him.

"Break one off." He instructed, pointing to ornate red coral that decorated the cabin door.

"Why?"

"When your mom and I first dated" Dad said. "I took a trip to your grandfather's main palace and took some red coral from it to give to her."

"That's where she got it?"

Mom wore her old Camp Half-Blood necklace all the time, probably to remind herself of her roots. She kept a chunk of red coral on it, next to Grandpa Fred's old class ring. He had never known where it came from.

"Yep. When you meet someone special, I want you to have something like that too."

His dad smirked at Odysseus' blushing.

"Is there someone special I should know about?" he teased.

"Uh…there is sort of this girl…one of the centurions in the Second? But she's annoying."

Dad laughed.

"Exactly what I said about your mother."

That was encouraging.

He wondered why Dad brought him down here for something so embarrassing.

Something special to share.

He thought of the history this place had for their family. He thought of the old, faded photos of his grandmother in her youth here, of his father playing here in his childhood, the baby photo of his with his mother helping him walk on the beach.

He thought of his and Dad's underwater walks.

Maybe it was important to have something to share.

"Thanks, Dad." He mumbled.

Dad beamed and glanced at his waterproof watch.

"Oh, Grandma and Grandpa will be here any minute. Come on, your mother will have assumed we've been eaten by sharks if we're not back by then."

"Dad?" He muttered. "That girl I told you about…is it okay if she comes with us some time?"

His father smirked knowingly. "Of course"

Odysseus smiled bashfully, thinking he'd have to hide his height marks somehow, in that case.

He scraped a blot of red from the house carefully with the knife and examined it.

He pocketed the coral and followed his dad, grateful to have something to share.


	44. Chapter 44

Annabeth went through her old trunk listlessly. Piper had just been to Cabin Six to tell her the Argo would be sailing early the next morning. It was finally time for her to stop putting off packing. So, she mechanically stuffed old camp shirts and jeans, books and design blueprints away for the journey.

She couldn't concentrate much on it. She couldn't stop thinking about Percy. What if the Romans had decided he was a threat and killed him? What if he never made it to camp?

But at least, after eight months, she would know. If he was alive or dead or had forgotten all about her…at least she would know.

And at least a quest beat going home for the summer, which her dad had wanted her to do that year, before Percy had gone missing.

She dropped a stack of orange T-shirts in a sudden mini heart attack. Styx, Dad! She had forgotten about her dad!

She had been so focused on finding out where Jason had come from, where Percy could be, she had completely blanked on her dad. She hadn't told him she was going on a quest over the summer.

She supposed she had to tell him. She debated taking the chance of being attacked by a monster and calling him. She didn't want to send an Iris message and catch him with her brothers, though the thought of giving the brats a scare was tempting.

But it was after dinner and everyone was winding down and coming back to the cabins. Everyone would see her using a cellphone. Even a head councilor could get away with only so much rule breaking. Besides, her father was usually alone in his study.

So she tossed a Drachma into a small decorative fountain she had gotten for her birthday for Iris messaging.

"Show me Frederic Chase."

He was, like she guessed, in his study. He was poring over some battle diagrams, moving figures around a board, completely oblivious to his daughter's shimmering image right above him.

She coughed.

"Hi, Dad."

He started and nearly fell off his chair before adjusting his glasses and grinning in delight.

"Hello, sweetheart! How have you been? Any luck with…well, you know…"

He trailed off in an uncomfortable mutter.

"We haven't found him yet." Annabeth said. "But we think we know where he is. I…I'm going on a quest to find him tomorrow."

His face fell.

"When will you be home?"

"Not for the rest of the summer. I'm sorry, Dad. I know I said I'd come home, it's just…complicated."

She explained the new Great Prophecy, Jason's camp, Hera's quest…everything that had happened in the last few months she never got around to telling him. Had she been that out of touch with her family?

When she was done, he looked grave. He wiped his glasses with his shirt before saying simply

"Your brothers and stepmother are going to miss you."

Annabeth snorted.

"Yeah, right."

"Annabeth, I know you feel like we…"

He didn't finish his sentence. His study door opened and her little stepbrother Matt was standing in the doorway. He was so much taller than she remembered. Had it been that long?

Her father immediately stood up, obscuring the Iris message.

"Dad, were you just talking to Annabeth?"

"Um…yes, son. She just called my cell."

Annabeth tried to stifle laughter at his bad lying. Her dad didn't have a cell.

"Is she coming home next week?" Matt asked.

"Uh…No, Matt. Something…came up."

Her younger brother looked disappointed.

"Aw, I wanted her to visit with Percy. I got this new video game and the fourth level is really hard. I wanted him to help me beat it."

Annabeth had to gulp down an impulse to cry.

Her dad seemed to be trying to choke down emotion as well.

"I'm sure…I'm sure your sister and Percy will come to visit soon and they'll help you with your game all you want. Now, go find your brother and get ready for dinner, alright?"

"Yeah, okay, Dad." Before Matt closed the door behind him he added "If Sis calls back, tell her to come home soon, okay?"

"Okay. I will, Matt."

Matt closed the door and left to wash his hands for dinner.

"Anyway…" Her dad continued. "I know you feel like we don't have a place for you here, but we do. I love you. All of us do."

"I…I love you too, Dad."

"Be careful, sweetheart."

"I will, Dad."

"Find Percy. Come back with him soon."

"I'll try, Dad."

"I'm so proud of you, Annabeth."

As the connection fizzed out, Annabeth wiped her eyes.

She continued to pack things into her trunk. Thinking distractedly if there was anything she had missed, her eyes caught the photograph on her desk of her dad by his biplane.

She smiled softly and put it on top of her camp shirts.

Closing the trunk, she fingered the class ring on her necklace, thinking for a second she had a family waiting for her after all.


	45. Chapter 45

It was finally the first real spring day after the crew of the Argo had returned home. Paul had decided they were going to take advantage of it, declaring a family bonding day.

The seven all happened to be in the area. Annabeth was still going to school in the city. Piper, Leo, and Jason were attending camp as year-rounders and Frank and Hazel were visiting on diplomatic business from Camp Jupiter. They all ended up being invited. Percy Iris messaged camp and Annabeth's dorm room and they agreed to come.

So, by that afternoon he had packed the family in the car, picked up Annabeth from her weekend job on Olympus and they were off to Paul's Mandatory Family Outing.

Not that they particularly minded being hijacked, even if Annabeth grumbled mildly she had to design a palace. The air was warm, the weather was nice, and the sounds of the city were muffled in the little natural haven of Central Park.

Paul wore one of those cheesy Kiss the Cook aprons while fumbling with the grill.

"Dear, please let me do that." Sally pleaded.

"I got it, Sally, I got it."

Percy and Annabeth were huddled together at a picnic table, poring over a heavy textbook.

"See, Seaweed Brain, it's simple."

"Annabeth, calculus is not simple. In any way, shape, or form."

As Annabeth rolled her eyes, a car horn blared and one of the camp's transport vans pulled up to perform a sketchy parallel parking job in the parking lot.

Piper and Jason emerged from the front seats and waved. The back doors slid open to reveal Frank, Leo, and Hazel.

Piper studied the van's angle in dismay.

"Great job, Beauty Queen." Leo commented dryly. "You should have let me drive."

"Hey, shut up, Leo, I've never parallel parked before, okay?"

"Argus is going to kill us." Jason deadpanned.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Piper insisted.

"Do you really want a big guy with fifty million eyes mad at you?" Frank wondered.

"Has to be better than the time Reyna caught us sleeping on guard duty." Hazel replied.

They both shuddered.

The group walked over to Percy and Annabeth.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Jason asked.

"Pain, that's what." Percy griped.

Annabeth scuffed his ear.

"I'm just helping him with his placement test."

"If I pass, I can graduate this year." Percy said. "But my advisor says there's a lot of math and I hate it."

"I told you it's easy." Annabeth said. "Isn't it easy, Leo?"

"Sure." Leo took Percy's pencil and quickly scribbled off some equations.

"Speaking of which." Piper cut in excitedly. She punched Leo's arm lightly. "Tell them, Valdez!"

Leo grinned. He fished a piece of paper from his pocket and held it up. It was an official document signed by a judge.

"Emancipated teen, baby!" He explained triumphantly. "No more foster homes, just good old Camp Half-Blood from now until…well, I don't know. But the point is, I can stay there while I get my GED."

"Leo, that's wonderful!" Sally exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug.

"Looks like we have to celebrate!" Paul announced.

As if on cue his grill collapsed and a small part of steel cooking surface caught fire.

Sally and Hazel commandeered the grill from Paul, repairing the damage as they laughed and joked. Hazel seemed bewildered but pleasantly surprised. Having a mother figure that wasn't yelling at her was a new experience.

Eventually, with Leo's help they got it running and soon burgers and hotdogs were fried up for everyone.

As his friends lined up for food, Percy grumbled over a math problem, absently scratching his head in frustration.

Sally sat down next to him and pulled him close.

"You have wonderful friends, Percy." She told him.

Percy smiled.

"Okay, everybody!" Paul called. "Group photo!"

Percy muttered lamely as Sally shooed him to the patch of lawn Paul was assembling them all.

A bulldog ran up and dropped a stick it was carrying before turning into Frank and joining them.

He knelt beside Percy and Jason in the front row while the girls and Leo stood behind them pulling faces and making bunny ears with their hands.

"Cheese!"

When Percy graduated and moved to New Rome for college he brought the photo with him and it hung on his dorm wall for four years.

Like his mother's blue food, it reminded him miracles were possible.

He could get into college, they could end a war. There could be peace.

He could keep his family together.


	46. Chapter 46

Chiron wheeled into his office, shutting the door solemnly.

He didn't want to hear his pupils guess about their fate. He didn't want to hear them speculate about what he was sending them to.

It was beginning again, he knew. The arrival of Thalia's younger brother proved it.

He smiled softly at a picture of Thalia on his wall, taken the summer she had revived and became a camper. She was grinning and holding up a capture-the-flag banner proudly.

She had thought he didn't know about Jason, but he had his ways. Years of finding demigods scattered across the country taught him how to look in the right places.

And sometimes he could read his students like books.

He turned to a photo of Percy and Annabeth holding hands in the grass and he chuckled.

Like that situation, he thought.

He had known since they were children, known since before they went on their first quest together.

The way Annabeth tried too hard to ignore Percy and his pouting confusion about why was too obvious.

It had gladdened him to see two of his favorites find happiness with each other. It also made him grieve.

He knew too well what Fate had planned for his children. Short tragic lives fighting the world alone. Not long happy lives together. Plus, their parents were Poseidon and Athena, bitter enemies. In his experience, going against your godly parent like that didn't earn you points with Fate.

Still, he watched them begin their relationship with joy and sadness.

He gave a small laugh, thinking of the nights Annabeth snuck into Cabin Three, thinking he was none the wiser.

He thought of Achilles and Patroclus, the day they started sleeping in the same bed without knowing he noticed. Or without caring. He had never been quite sure which.

Kids were the same everywhere, he thought.

His eyes shone as he caught a glimpse of a photo of Percy in his first year at camp. He was standing self-consciously in armor that was way too big for him, but fit perfectly now. He was trying to look tough, smirking to pretend he didn't look ridiculous.

He was a lot like Achilles. He was so determined to be the best he could and escape his fate, never something that ended happily. It hadn't for Achilles. He hoped it would for Percy.

If he was right, if Percy was still alive and could pass the tests and make it to…No. No use speculating. If he was right about Hera's plan, he had to be as blind to Percy's fate as everyone else. He just had to wait and see what happened, what those heroes discovered in their own time.

As the Fates decree.

He sighed. As he made a sign against evil with his hand, there was a knock on his door.

"Come in."

Annabeth opened it.

"Chiron? Dinner." she said shortly.

She was still angry with him for hiding what he knew. He couldn't blame her. He wanted to tell her where Percy was, but he knew that would break Hera's delicate plans apart.

So instead, as she turned to leave, he called

"My dear?"

Annabeth turned and for a moment he could see the scared, determined little girl who was like a daughter to him. He was glad he hadn't lost her completely.

He hesitated.

"Please don't worry yourself too much, Annabeth. I'm sure…I'm sure we'll find him."

Annabeth began to scoff, but she stopped when she saw his gleaming eyes.

"Thanks, Chiron." She mumbled. "And I'm sorry."

"Think nothing of it, my dear."

"But you know something, don't you?"

"Nothing you will not soon."  
"But you still can't say."

"No, my dear. It would rip us apart if I did. I can only tell you that there is hope."

Annabeth didn't scoff this time. She just looked defeated.

"Well, I don't feel like I have any hope left." she said. "But thanks, Chiron. See you at dinner."

And she listlessly shut the door.

Chiron hung his head. Like losing a child every time, he had said.

He took another look at Percy in his childhood, so full of hope that life could get better. Chiron hoped he wasn't going to be another hero he would have to apologize to in the Underworld.

He left for dinner, turning off the lights on the portraits in his office like a gathering of shades.


	47. Chapter 47

Annabeth opened her cabin door yawning, absently trying to straighten her tangled hair with her fingers.

Suddenly she froze. Something was off.

It was too quiet.

There were none of the usual morning sounds. Nobody was laughing, or brushing their teeth, accusing someone of switching shirts or arguing over the toilets (why Leo didn't make seven bathrooms was beyond her).

Her heart beat faster. Had something happened? Or were they just letting her sleep in? After all, she and Percy had only just gotten back from Tartarus yesterday.

She made her way to the big dining room which was completely dark. That wasn't normal either. Someone was always eating.

She turned on the lights. She had enough time to register something orange on the table before six figures jumped out and shouted

"Surprise!"

"What…?" She blinked, bleary eyed.

Everyone was gathered in a cluster behind the table.

Leo rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "We said 'surprise', weren't you even listening?"

Hazel scowled and nudged him.

"Hey, what'd I do?"

"Shut up, Leo." Piper ordered him.

"Sheesh, she asked…" he muttered.

In the middle of the group, Percy grinned.

"Happy birthday." he said.

He leaped across the table to take her hand.

"Huh…? Oh yeah, right." Annabeth remembered, rubbing her eyes. "Wow, I forgot. Heh, I've been older than you for like a week."

"I keep telling you, it doesn't count if it's a month apart!"

"And I keep telling you, that makes literally no sense."

Frank raised his eyebrows. "So what, you're both the oldest?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Jason laughed. "Okay, enough, you two. Annabeth, want some cake?"

Looking closer, she saw the thing sitting on the table was indeed a cake. It was a square of pastry with orange frosting, decorated with little silver owls in icing.

Jason cut a piece off while Frank got some paper plates. He handed Annabeth the first slice while Piper smacked Leo's hand away from the rest.

Annabeth smiled.

"Thanks, guys."

Jason beamed. "Course! I'm just sorry it's a week late."

He said it like it was his fault.

Annabeth gave him a grateful look. She felt guilty their little trip into Tartarus had spoiled his birthday. Of course, she spent her actual birthday in Hell, so she didn't know who had it worse.

"O' ye'" Leo managed with a big mouthful of cake. He swallowed. "We even got you something!"

He rummaged through his toolbelt.

"Okay, so I got you something. Okay, so I made you something." he corrected. "Okay, so I cobbled something together last night. Aha!"

He pulled out a protractor that was gleaming Celestial bronze.

"A protractor?" Hazel asked.

"No! It's not just a protractor!" Leo protested indignantly.

He tapped a pane of glass on its side.

"This here's a simple computer. It can record measurements and do calculations…"

"Can it blow anything up?" Hazel wondered suspiciously.

Leo scoffed. "Everything I build can blow stuff up a little bit."

Hazel looked unsure but Annabeth grinned when Leo gave it to her.

"I think it's great. You really made it last night?"

"Eh, it's like Coach says. I don't try to be awesome. Sorry it's not Daedalus' computer. I'd much rather be able to give you that for your birthday."

Leo had spoken to her in private about that. He had said after they had been sure she and Percy couldn't be rescued at the Emanuel building, he had looked for her computer. He had done everything he could to find it, knowing how important those plans were to her.

He had then triumphantly displayed a tattered book marked in Ancient Greek. Her eyes had widened in shock.

"But bright side" he had said "Engineering data lost for two thousand years, what up?"

Now, he shrugged. "Hey isn't this supposed to be a party? Let's get some music in here!"

He played with some controls and the intercom connected to the soundboard on the Argo's control panel blared party music.

They all summoned whatever junk food they wanted from the table. The cake disappeared along with a mountain of sodas and chips.

It didn't last very long. The first monster attack of the morning happened soon after the cake was finished and Piper insisted they all take a picture.

But Annabeth didn't care. She cheerfully kept watch and fought whatever came their way.

That evening, she tacked Piper's photo on her cabin wall.

She smiled at the scene, herself surrounded by her grinning friends. Percy was holding her hand. Piper had her arm around hers, laughing with Hazel. The boys were pulling goofy faces.

She felt like even if they were a world away from camp, she was home.

And it felt great to be back.


	48. Chapter 48

Hazel stood coughing over the sink, one hand pulling her hair back.

Wiping her mouth, she glanced at the contents of her breakfast going down the drain.

She rubbed the centurion badge she had kept after leaving the legion irritably. She didn't know why this had been happening lately.

It wasn't as if she was…

Oh. Oh, no.

The sun was rising over New Rome as Hazel weaved through the barracks of Camp Jupiter. Entering the coliseum, she interrupted a class of several burly high school boys with dulled gladius.

She marched right up to the instructor.

Percy capped Riptide and smiled in greeting.

"Hey, Hazel. Aren't you supposed to be-"

Without a word or breaking her stride, she cut him off by grabbing his arm and steering him away.

"Hazel, wha's going on?" he demanded as she pulled him into his office built in the corner of the stadium.

"We have to talk. Now."

"What is it?" Percy asked as they stopped and he gently extracted himself from her grip.

"Percy, I'm pregnant."

Percy stared in shock for a second before grinning broadly and enveloping her in a hug.

"Hazel, that's great! Have you told Frank yet?"

She shook her head.

He frowned.

"Why not?" he frowned deeper, seeing how distressed she looked. "Hey, what's the matter?"

He took her by the shoulders and sat her down in an office chair. He got her some water from a water cooler and some crackers from the cupboard above the coffee maker.

He was calm and patient. He had gone through all of this with Annabeth.

When Hazel had regained her composure she looked up at him helplessly.

"Are you going to freak out?" Percy asked matter of factly.

"I am freaking out."

"Hey, hey, it'll be okay." Percy insisted, hugging her again.

"Percy, I can't do this. I'd be a terrible mother."

Percy cocked his head. "Hazel, you are about the most motherly person I know. Do you remember how you took care of us when we went to Alaska?"

"But I don't know how to be an actual mother! I didn't exactly have the best role model."

Percy laughed. "I had Smelly Gabe for the first twelve years of my life. I think I turned out an okay dad."

Hazel smiled. Percy was adorable with his son Odie.

"But you still had Paul." she argued.

"Hazel, look at me." Percy said gently. "Do you want this baby?"

"Of course I do." she answered immediately. "I love him already."

"Then there you go. You're already a great mom."

Hazel hung her head. "My mother loved me. It didn't help her be a good parent."

"You've already proven you're different from her plenty of times."

Hazel smiled softly, though Hecate's words still rang in her ears. You are like your mother.

"Thanks, Percy."

"Now, do me a favor." Percy said. "Find Frank and tell him the good news. He's going to be so happy when he finds out."

Hazel laughed weakly. "Yeah, he's not going to be able to talk about anything else for months. Sorry about that."

"Hey, it'll be my godson he'll be going on about. I am the godfather, right?"

"No, I'm naming Hedge the godfather. Of course you are, Percy."

"Ah, sarcasm. Now I know you're feeling better."

Hazel embraced him warmly.

"Freak out over?"

"Freak out over. I still don't know if I'll be a good enough mom, though."

"Nobody ever is. Now go tell that husband of yours he's going to be a dad."

She found him getting ready for work in their bedroom.

"Hi Hazel." Frank said casually, straightening his tie. "Were you just out for a walk?"

"Oh no, no. I was just over at the coliseum to see Percy for a bit."

"What about?"

Hazel closed her eyes and took his hand. "Truth is, there's something I have to tell you…"

She guided his hand to her stomach and his eyes widened as he caught on.

"Hazel, you…I…we're…"

She chuckled and nodded. She was used to deciphering his babbled sentences, though she hadn't had to translate his nervous speech since they were teenagers.

He picked her up easily and buried his face in her neck. She couldn't tell if he was laughing or crying as he spun them around in a burst of joyful energy.

"We're going to be parents…" he muttered in happy disbelief.

Hazel still hung onto him tightly as he gently lowered her.

So what if she was like her mother? They both wanted this new member of their family. And she had her boys right beside her.

How could she have ever thought it wouldn't be alright? Sometimes, she guessed, she still forgot she wasn't alone in the world anymore.

She grinned tenderly at the only photograph in the master bedroom.

It was of herself, Frank and Percy the night they came home from Alaska. She still hadn't had her growth spurt. Frank still hadn't lost weight. Percy still had his skinny, half grown physique.

They were quietly enjoying each other's company in the forum. Percy and Frank had those silly party hats and she was smiling into her ice cream between them as they shared some ridiculous joke.

They had been so afraid their little family would be torn apart by a civil war. She had been terrified Percy would be taken away from them by his old friends.

Back then she thought so long as the three of them still had each other they could get through anything. She still felt that way.

She was glad they were still a team.


	49. Chapter 49

Luke didn't know how long he was in the line.

It went on for miles. Men, women, children, all with the same white funeral robes, all with the blank expression of a trance.

He was sandwiched in the middle, his robes becoming more disheveled, his feet digging into the coarse sands. He started to feel like he was in a trance himself, like he was forgetting his life, his personality, anything or anyone he loved.

He could barely remember his own name.

Until he got to the boat.

The strange older man in a fancy suit grinned wickedly and told him his passage was paid for. Which didn't make sense to Luke. He had no money.

But he got in anyway and suddenly everything came back to him sharply.

There, sitting on the ferry's floor, were fragments of his life. His victory wreath from winning a capture the flag game. His favorite sword. His awards for swordsmanship. A diploma from the college he always wanted to go to.

And a familiar photo of himself, barely high school aged, laughing with a black haired girl in a punk-rock leather jacket and an intelligent-looking little girl with deep gray eyes.

He remembered. Thalia. Annabeth.

He hung his head. He let them down. And now he was going to pay for it, he knew.

He didn't have time to dwell on it.

The boat had beached, he was ushered past gates and he was facing the Judges of the Dead.

Their golden masks reminded him of the masks in Greek theater he had seen in books, only much worse because they were sentencing him to his doom.

"Luke Castellan." one boomed.

He flinched.

"See what your life was. See what it might have become."

He saw flashes of his life. Growing up with his addled mother, running away and meeting Thalia, losing her on Half-Blood Hill. Plotting his revenge, his years as Kronos' servant, his death.

He also saw things that never happened. Thalia making it to camp. Their trying to make a happy life there. Kronos rising as he really did, but this time going down much easier without a trusted spy. Percy disappearing and finding the Roman camp, where after the Giants' War, he and everyone at Camp Half-Blood had the chance for a good life.

Luke wanted to pound the obsidian floor in frustration. This was what he amounted to. What he was fighting for, a better life for demigods, would have happened without him. Would have happened sooner without him.

The Judges began to speak again.

"Kronos' right hand man."

"The best swordsman in three hundred years."

"Loyal friend."

"Traitor."

The last word reverberated through the cavernous Underworld and Luke looked down in shame.

"A traitor to Kronos as well as to the gods."

Luke looked up.

He gasped and spun around. He wasn't in the Judges chamber anymore. He was in a beautiful historic city with Greek style mansions, wide golden cobble roads, and a calm river flowing beside it. On the other side he could see a glowing island.

"Hello, Luke."

He turned around to see a hulking boy with crossed arms and an impassive expression.

"Becken...dorf?" Luke said weakly. "You...died?"

"Yeah. That tends to happen when you start a war, Luke."

"Charlie?" someone called. A beautiful girl with long black hair approached them. "Who...Luke?"

She covered her mouth in shock.

"Silena?" Luke asked. "You too?"

She refused to meet his eyes.

"Silena, I'm so sorry." he told her. "I never meant..."

She put her hand up with a serene smile.

"It's okay, Luke. I was stupid. I payed for my stupidity with my life. That's all."

Luke laughed humorlessly. "I suppose we all are."

Beckendorf smiled dryly. "Better luck next time, I guess."

"Yeah." Luke agreed. "Next time."

He thought of what he told Annabeth before he died. Think...rebirth. Try for three times. Isle of the Blest.

He thought of the photo of him and Thalia and Annabeth laughing the fear away, content in their little family.

He had lost them.

But it wasn't too late.

All he could hope for was that they were enjoying the new world they had forged for them. That they had forged themselves.

He stared determinedly at the Isle. As Beckendorf put a hand on his shoulder and directed him away to find his house, there was only one thing he could think.

Next time.


	50. Chapter 50

"Leo, I swear to the gods, if you don't stand still I will knife you with this chisel." Nyssa growled.

She was crouching on scaffolding, brandishing the tool.

She surveyed seven very uncooperative demigods below her reprovingly.

"But I have to go to the bathroom." Leo protested.

"I'll do it." Nyssa warned, poised to throw her sculpting supplies like a javelin.

When the Senate had commissioned Hephaestus Cabin to construct statues of "The Seven"as a sort of goodwill gesture, they didn't count on the difficulties of getting seven ADHD demigods to pose for four hours. None of them were happy about being on their feet all day as Leo's brothers and sisters each worked on a larger than life sized statue of one of the Argo's crew.

For the last few days, the seven had stood for hours in the forum of New Rome, feeling more antsy and self conscious by the minute.

Now, instead of carving in eyebrows on Jason's statue as she was supposed to, Nyssa had to reign in the anarchy.

Out of shear boredom, Percy was testing how far his control of water reached, trying to overflow fountains that were farther and farther away. Gushing and screams could be heard as far away as Caesar Street.

Hazel was seeing how many times she could summon Arion before the horse got fed up and ignored her.

Frank, despite his growth spurt and weight loss over the summer, was the most self conscious. He kept turning into different animals out of nerves.

He transformed into a kangaroo and began to hop around, which was obviously not good for Nyssa's blood pressure.

"Oh man, my hair is awful." Piper despaired, sounding more like one of her sisters.

"Piper, your hair always looks that way. Its fine." Annabeth insisted soothingly. She had taken out an architecure book and was flipping trough the pages.

Jason raised his eyebrows which made Nyssa chisel the marble counterpart wrong and groan.

"Piper, you cut it with safety scissors. Since when do you care about your hair?"

"I know! But this is important." Piper explained. "These statues will be here forever. We have to look okay, or it'll be an embarrassment our whole lives. It's like picture day, only instead of people laughing at your pimples for a week, they'll be laughing for a hundred years."

Annabeth chuckled. "Point." she looked up at her statue where Jake Mason was putting the finishing touches on its frizzy marble hair. "It's just so weird they'll be here for so long."

"Stopped a war last year too." Percy grumbled. "Didn't need statues. Do kids learning about us in five hundred years really need to know I looked so stupid in the praetor uniform?"

He glared at his statue, where the clasps of the preator cape was being etched into the shoulders of statue Percy.

Jason grinned. "No, but they'll definitely need to know about that cowlick."

"Boys, please." Nyssa begged as Percy lightly smacked Jason on the chest. "We're almost done."

"Thank the gods." all seven of them breathed at once.

"Okay, chuckle heads." Nyssa laughed, making one last incision into the marble. "You are released."

She climbed down and admired her work.

"Wow." Percy murmured.

The starues were suddenly worth it. They were beautiful ten feet tall masterpieces, each a miniature Athena Parthenos.

Like the Parthenos, they all had blank, severe expressions that made them look unapproachable and timeless, not the scared teens they had felt themselves to be.

But as they looked closer, details betrayed the real demigod behind the immortality. Acne a conscientious and possibly vengeful sculptor had captured. Jason's scar. Piper's sloppy hair. How short Hazel was, or how lanky the boys were, not yet grown into and used to their heights.

Percy could swear Annabeth's had her trademark smirk.

He smiled.

"Y'know, maybe it won't be so bad if everyone remembers us like that." he said, following everyone to the mess halls for lunch.

Leo snorted. "Speak for yourself man. Now people are gonna see my ugly mug every time they walk through town."

"Everyone's going to know how short I am." Hazel complained.

"My hair. Why didn't I fix my hair?" Piper muttered dully. Annabeth pat her on the back.

"As long as nobody knows how I got my scar." Jason conceded.

"I told Reyna I look dumb in this uniform..." Frank griped.

As his friends continued to complain, Percy glanced back at his statue.

Past the serious facial expression, there was a lot he could complain about too.

They had captured his unruly hair, his unclear skin, and his not so muscular frame. They had even remembered the scar on his hand, something he definitively didn't want to be reminded of.

But that was how he wanted to be remebered. Not as a hero, but as a person.

Years in the future he wanted a generation of demigods to say "Man, Percy Jackson was probably an awesome guy to play video games with" not "Man, Percy Jackson was a cool hero" like he used to think about Hercules.

He wanted people to know he was real guy. Right now, a very hungry real guy.

As he clutched his stomach and complained, Annabeth admonishing him for being such a baby, he looked at the statues one more time.

They stood impassively, a testament to what a couple of frightened kids trying to keep everything they love from falling apart could do.


	51. Chapter 51

Sally sipped the last of her morning coffee in her bathrobe as she idly checked the home phone for messages.

There was one voicemail recorded at...midnight? And was that an Alaska area code?

Huh...

"Mom."

Sally caught her breath and froze. Her knees buckled and she hurriedly found the sofa to sit on, never taking her ear an inch farther from the receiver.

"Hey, I'm alive. Hera put me to sleep for a while, and then she took my memory, and..."

She could barely pay attention to his words as she listened to her son's familiar voice.

"Anyway, I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest-"

She simply let his voice melt away the months of anxiety and pain, not knowing if her only son was alive. Not being able to do anything for Paul who joined their family during a crisis he wasn't fully prepared to handle. Or for Annabeth, his girlfriend for only, what, four months? She must have thought the days of worrying if Percy was going to die in the next twenty four hours were over before this happened.

Far too soon, the message was over.

"I'll make it home. I promise. Love you."

Sally wiped her eyes and smiled.

"I love you too, Percy. Be safe."

What he had said started to sink in. He was on a quest. In Alaska? She wondered if it had anything to do with the Prophecy of Seven Percy had told her about over blueberry waffles one morning after he got home from camp, the one Annabeth had said was beginning.

She should have felt more worried than relieved but hearing her little boy again was like a tonic. Images of Percy, his mused hair, irreverent expression and lanky frame, flooded her mind. Images of him in his childhood danced around her head. The time he learned to ride a bike, not much less of a disaster than when she taught him to drive. The time he threw a tantrum in the Smithsonian for space food and then didn't like it. It made her feel better than she had all year.

She knew she had to tell Annabeth. This was just the moral pick me up she would need before sailing off to the Roman camp. Annabeth would be so relieved to know he really was alive. The fact that he was on a quest and may not come back to the Roman camp wouldn't faze her. Annabeth had seen him survive the impossible and come back from the dead. If he was out there and Annabeth was going to him, she would be confident they could get through anything.

As Sally sat and thought all this, Paul walked in grading some essays.

"Did you get enough coffee, de-Sally what is it?"

Sally disposed of the tears that were still flowing with a tissue and grinned broadly up at him.

"Percy called." she presented the phone happily.

"What?" Paul jumped onto the couch next to her.

She replayed the message for him.

"We have to tell Annabeth about this." Paul breathed.

Sally nodded.

"I'll message the camp and tell her to come over right away." Paul sprang up to get one of their spare Iris-message drachmas.

Sally just lied on the couch in a daze. Percy. Percy.

One last image of Percy laughing overflowed into her mind. She had never told him, but he laughed just like his father. He smiled sarcastically and put his hands behind his head, exposing his scar for a second. She felt a twinge at it. He had been in so much danger and she couldn't protect him from it.

But it didn't matter now. He was alive. He would make it back alright. She was sure.

She lingered on the image of Percy who seemed to be saying Geez, Mom! I'm fine!

I know you are she thought.

She got up and called to Paul to wait.

She wanted to tell Annabeth herself.

I know you are.


	52. Chapter 52

Nico pressed his face to the train window and grinned. He had never been so excited.

A few days ago, his mother had announced a family vacation.

In his six years, he had never left Venice. Now he was in Croatia, speeding along on the shiny new railway system. They were going to see Emperor Diocletian's palace! A really cool military general who defeated a lot of enemies! Nico could hardly wait!

Though he couldn't explain it exactly, it also stirred something like...not really a memory, but like a kinship. He felt connected for some reason, as if Diocletian was a long lost relative.

But he didn't dwell on it. He just continued to look at the Croatian landscape.

His mother gazed at it intently too. She looked pensive and melancholy as if she were thinking this was the last time she would ever see scenery like this.

"Nico, stop it." Bianca chided him from the next seat. She grabbed his hands and tore them away from the glass. "You're smudging the windows."

"Aw, but I wanna see, Bianca!" he wailed.

"You can look without touching." Bianca insisted sternly.

Nico pouted and crossed his arms.

"Now, now children." their mother said, breaking away from her quiet sulk. "We're almost there."

The train arrived in Split a few minutes later. The town was amazing. The streets were full of pedestrians and vendors. Strange music came into focus as they passed street musicians.

Bianca got him an ice cream that he ate while he stared in fascination at an organ grinder's trained monkey.

The palace was visible in the distant horizon of the city and Nico and Bianca made their way to it, their mother silently watching them a few steps behind.

It was a huge building with so many wings and gables and gardens that Nico couldn't count them all.

He got so dizzy looking up numbering the spiraling towers that he fell down.

"Oh for goodness sake." Bianca laughed. "Can't I take you anywhere?"

She helped him up and wiped the tears from his face.

Nico sniffed, scrubbed his face with his sleeve and suddenly smiled mischievously.

He snatched Bianca's green cap and announced "Keep away!" running at full speed toward the palace.

"You little brat!" Bianca yelled, racing after him.

Nico laughed with a wide smile, exposing a missing tooth as he looked back at his pursuing sister. Abruptly, a sharp wind cut through him and he skidded to a halt.

Bianca nearly ran into him. She grabbed her hat huffily and placed it back on her head before she saw her brother looked scared.

"Nico? What is it?"

"I..." Nico strained to see something on top of a tower. "Nothin', Sis."

Bianca ruffled his hair.

"Okay. What do you say we find mom and get some lunch?"

"Carry me?"

"You're too old for piggyback rides."

"Please?"

"Fine." Bianca groaned.

She smiled and lifted him onto her back.

As Nico held on he looked behind him one more time. He shrugged and turned back, chatting relentlessly about what he wanted to eat.

When he was out of sight, a young man with long dark hair and blood-red eyes appeared on top of the tower. His eyes swam chaotically but he had an icily calm smile.

"Nico di Angelo." he murmured. "What an interesting boy. What an interesting fate."

The image of the boy seared into his mind. The bright eyes, the missing tooth, the mused hair, his sister's cap. The hollowed and lonely face he knew he would someday have.

"We will meet again soon."


	53. Chapter 53

"Hazel, no." Frank said sternly.

He was cradling their month-old daughter protectively in his arms.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Why not?"

"I'm not letting Emily on that thing!"

"Frank, Arion's not a thing. And he's never dropped anyone."

"He almost dropped me the last time we took him to Vancouver."

"That's because he hates you."

Frank sighed. "I just don't think it's safe."

Hazel's eyes softened and she gently took the baby from him.

"Okay, if it's important to you. This is a big occasion, after all."

So they found themselves flying out of San Francisco on a foggy morning saddled with a squirming baby and a heavy duffel bag.

It took Frank until the Golden Gate was a speck below them to find the plastic package of diapers.

By the time Hazel retrieved the extra milk from under a toy lion and an already spit-up-on blanket, Emily was wailing.

Frank put the diapers under his seat and rocked her while Hazel coax her into drinking from the bottle.

A blond woman in the next row with a sleeping toddler smiled sympathetically.

"First time flying with her?" she asked.

They looked over. Frank laughed sheepishly.

"Yeah, it was kind of short notice."

"We were going to uh...drive." Hazel elaborated. "But he didn't want to and we only have the weekend to travel anyway."

"It's okay though." Frank said. He was now patting Emily on the back and bouncing her over his shoulder.

Hazel nodded happily. "Yeah, it'll be worth it."

Several hours later, when the fog of early morning had burned away, the small family walked down a cold dirt path in an immaculate lawn.

They stopped at a slab of marble and sat down, Hazel taking Emily from her stroller and cuddling her in her lap.

Before them, the old but well cared for gravestone loomed impassively. Attached to it a photo of a beautiful woman smiled down, her deep black eyes staring into the identical ones of a baby she would never meet.

"C'mon, Emily, there's a good girl. Ooh, you're heavy." Frank huffed, moving her to his own lap.

He hoisted Emily up so that she could see.

"Say hi to grandma."


	54. Chapter 54

Nico couldn't sleep.

He, Reyna, and Hedge had left the Argo days ago but they still had whole continents to cross.

He didn't tell them, but he wasn't sure how many more shadow-travel sessions he could maneuver before keeling over.

He just stared into their camp fire absently.

Beside him, Reyna sat scrunched up into a ball, her knees tucked close to her body. Hedge was sitting on a tree branch, eating some new green leaves.

He thought about Hazel. He hoped she was okay. After Venice, he felt perfectly easy leaving her in Frank's hands, but if Thanatos was ordered to take her back, well...

She would have to go back.

"Is it true?"

Nico looked up. Reyna was glancing at him. Her eyes were even darker than his.

"What?"

"That you brought Hazel back from the Underworld."

Nico gulped. He figured there wasn't much of a point in hiding it anymore. What could Reyna do, now that the Argo's crew were already deserting traitors?

"Yes."

Reyna's breath hitched.

"There were rumors, but I never thought..."

Nico nodded.

"She died back in '42, just after we got involved in World War Two."

There was a thick silence and Reyna studied the fire pensively. Nico felt more uneasy. Now Reyna would see him as a freak. Even worse, she would see Hazel as a freak, after she and Nico had worked so hard for her to fit in.

"Why did you do it?" Reyna suddenly broke the silence.

Nico shrugged. "Why not? She's my sister. Wouldn't you do that for a sister?"

Reyna smiled softly.

"I would." she confessed. "I have a sister too, an older one. She practically raised me. I would do anything for her."

The description cut Nico to the quick.

An image of a tan girl with a face full of freckles, white teeth, and beautiful black hair under a green cap laughed in his mind. A girl he would never see again.

He felt a bit guilty, thinking so much about Hazel. That year, he had grown so close to her. He never expected to love being her brother so much. But he felt like doing so was forgetting Bianca in a way, somehow not honoring her memory.

But it wasn't as if he could ever forget her. Not that she remembered being Bianca now, he thought bitterly.

He found that bitter feeling always subsided when he forgot the last months of Bianca's life, the fighting, feeling like a nuisance, feeling abandoned, and thought about when they were younger. The times she would give him piggyback rides. The time she nursed him to health when he inevitably caught some sickness on the boat to America.

No, he would never forget her.

He wouldn't allow her to be forgotten.

"Actually..."

Nico was surprised to find himself taking the old school photo of Bianca from his jacket.

"I was looking for our sister when I found Hazel. I grew up with her."

"She's beautiful." Reyna admired.

"She was."

"You must miss her."

"I do. Right now, I miss Hazel even more, though. I didn't want to leave her behind. After..." he stopped himself before he could say Cupid. "Well, I just wish I had her with me."

"I miss Hylla too."

"Shaddap down there." Hedge grumbled through the leaves he was chewing. He swallowed. "Making me depressed."

"I'm sorry." Reyna said. "You must miss someone back home, too."

Hedge turned red.

"Don't be stupid, girl! I just don't appreciate the mushy, touchy-feely talk, alright?"

Even Nico's face twitched into a smile.

"No mushy talk. Got it."

Hedge snorted.

"Good."

Reyna laughed.

"Well, I guess I'm turning in. Big day across the African continent tomorrow." she pulled her cape over herself and nestled into the grass. Hedge was already snoring in the tree. "And Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope you see your sister again soon."

Nico smiled softly. "You too, Reyna. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Nico looked up at the stars, pulling his jacket tighter around himself. Extending into the skyline, like The Statue of Liberty in New York, was the Athena Parthenos. Nico could just see its cold expression on the edge of his vision as he stargazed.

Please he prayed, another surprise that night.

If you're supposed to guard their quest, please...look after her.

He glanced again at Bianca's photo, the smiling eyes as happy as Hazel's when she rode Arion.

Please, not again.

The statue's face was still impassive. It seemed to be telling him to be patient, to let fate work its mysterious ways, the fate that took one sister from him and let him find another. It seemed to be saying:

Wait and see

Wait and see


	55. Chapter 55

Annabeth kissed Percy on the cheek as he toted an overnight bag over his shoulder.

"Good luck."

"Thanks. Man, I haven't seen Dad in years. This is kind of exciting."

"Stay out of trouble. I don't want you coming back telling me my son's been turned into a dolphin."

Percy laughed and rolled his eyes with good humor.

"It's Mr. D who does dolphin, not Dad. I'll be good. And he'll love Odie."

Annabeth smiled warmly.

"I know he will."

They glanced out the window at the back yard where their six year old son was romping with his cousin Emily.

She was younger and smaller than him but she didn't mind playing rough, probably because she was a granddaughter of Mars.

She had just caught up to Oddyseus in a game of tag and was sitting on him when Percy came out and extracted him.

"C'mon, punk." Percy said lightly. "Time to meet your grandpa."

"But I already have grandpa Paul!" Odysseus muttered somewhat sulkily when they were in the car. "And grandpa Fred. Why do I need three grandpas?"

"Grandfather Poseidon is my dad, Odie. He wants to meet you."

"But Grandfather Poseidon is a god, right?" Odie asked. "Gods are scary."

Percy laughed. "Not my dad. You'll love him, I promise. Besides, Uncle Tyson will be there."

Odysseus grinned. "Cool! Uncle Tyson's fun. Do you think he made me a new toy?"

"Probably."

"Yay!"

When they got to San Francisco, Odysseus was having too much fun looking over the golden gate bridge to jump into the bay.

"Stay close to me, okay?" Percy said, taking his hand and leading him to the shore.

Odysseus forgot all about the bridge underwater. He stared enchanted at schools of fish, laughed as seaweed tickled his nose, and waved shyly at water nymphs

He was most impressed by the giant coral castle.

At the pearl gates, a merman saluted Percy instantly and opened the doors.

He winked at Odysseus and gave him a slight bow as they passed.

They hadn't walked past the foyer before a familiar voice bellowed

"BROTHER!"

Tyson lumbered over from a side room and crushed Percy in a bear hug.

"Uncle Tyson!" Odysseus cheered.

"NEPHEW!" Tyson exclaimed happily, hurling a laughing Odysseus up to rest on his shoulders.

"Look, look, Nephew" Tyson said excitedly. "Look what I made for you."

He pulled a brass figure out of his tunic and handed it up to Odysseus.

It was a shiny model hippocampus

"Wow, Uncle Tyson!" Odysseus grinned.

"What have we here, Tyson?"

A deep voice cut in and they all fell silent.

A tall man with a clean beard and clear blue eyes strode toward them. He wore a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts.

Poseidon smiled broadly when he saw Percy.

"Percy!" he cried, shaking his hand. "It's been so long, son."

He grinned slyly at Odysseus who had scrambled down from his uncle to the safety of his father's legs.

"My, my, and who is this?" Poseidon asked playfully.

Percy nudged his son.

"Go on." he encouraged. "Say hi."

"Come, now." Poseidon boomed good-naturedly. "Come let your grandfather see you."

Shyly, Odysseus came out from behind Percy's legs and tried to stand up straight. He was vaguely aware his grandfather was some kind of king and must have wanted to show some respect.

But Poseidon laughed heartily and ruffled his hair.

"He's a fine lad, son. Tell me boy, how old are you?"

"Six." Odysseus squeaked, clutching his new toy to his chest.

Poseidon shook his head in wonder.

"He looks just like you when you were that age."

Percy raised his eyebrows.

"How do you know?"

Poseidon gestured for them to move deeper into the palace.

"I'll show you." he said.

He led them to the Palace museum where there were old relics like his original trident, the first chariot the first horses drove, and the weapons and armor of his most famous sons.

When Odysseus got tired Poseidon scooped him up and carried him himself. Odie almost fell asleep in his grandfather's arms. Percy took his hippocampus to keep it from falling and shattering on the floor.

Poseidon finally took them to a back room. In the middle of the opposite wall was a huge painting in a sort of laminating film of Poseidon exactly how he looked now, only in a traditional Greek chiton.

Surrounding it were hundreds of paintings of men and women, boys and girls.

Even with his dyslexia, Percy caught some names like Triton, Horatio Nelson...

"Your children?" he guessed.

Poseidon pointed to one on the left wall. "You tell me."

There was a photo of Percy in his praetor's uniform. He remembered the day it was taken, the day he, Hazel, and Frank had returned from Alaska and they had celebrated all night, a final moment of happiness to tide them over during their quest to the ancient lands. He was smiling uncontrollably and he was sure his hands were around his two companions.

Below it was the only childhood photo of his his mother didn't still have. In it he was about six, in a puffy green jacket, Spiderman boots and a faded Disney's Hercules shirt. He had dirt on his face and he was laughing wildly while someone was trying to wipe it off. That had been the blissful time before his mother had gotten married to smelly Gabe.

"Mom...Mom told me she lost that photo." Percy said.

"She gave it to me." Poseidon said. "To put in this room to honor my sons and daughters."

He pinched Odysseus' cheeks lightly. "You will have your photograph here, too one day. When you prove you're a brave little boy."

"Like...if I beat Emily at tag?"

Percy and Poseidon both laughed.

"Yes, something like that." Poseidon chuckled.

"I like tag!" Tyson supplied.

Odysseus yawned.

"Tyson, will you show our little friend to his room? I believe it's his naptime."

"Yes, Father!" Tyson said gleefully.

He snatched Odysseus up and ran off with him.

Percy turned to the pictures.

"I can't believe you kept my photo." Percy murmured. "The one of me as a kid, I mean."

"I believe Sally wanted me to be in your life." Poseidon confessed. "I admit, I would like to be there for my children more than I am able. This room makes me feel closer to them."

Percy looked at his kindergarden-age self, the laughter in his eyes twinkling before they were hardened in defiance against a life that gave him no breaks.

When they looked like Odysseus' eyes.

He vowed his son's eyes would never become like that.

"Don't tell Odysseus I'm going to have his picture hung up after dinner." Poseidon said. "I want it to be a surprise."

Percy smiled. "Okay."

"Now, I understand your wife recently gave birth to a girl?"

"Yeah. Sarah."

"Excellent, be sure to bring her here to visit when she's older."

Percy laughed.  
"I don't know about that, Dad." he said. "We don't know if she's got my powers yet."

"Nonsense." Poseidon cocked an eyebrow. "She's my granddaughter after all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

He glanced at his younger selfs, one unaware of the hardships he would have to face, the other hopeful he would overcome them and have a happy life.

He thought of the assurance he had in New Rome that his son, baby daughter, and any other children he may have would not have to struggle for every second of peace like he did.

Well he thought You got what you fought for.


	56. Chapter 56

"What...what is that?"

Leo looked up from his cabin's main worktable to see Calypso staring at something in shock.

Considering he had only gotten her back to the mortal world a few weeks ago, he expected her to be surprised at something modern, like a cell phone, but she was just staring warily at an old tattered book.

She picked it up and he could see the beige cover with a handsome view of the Mediterranean and stencil-like Greek-style cartoon waves above the title: The Odyssey

"Things concerning Odysseus?"

"Yeah." Leo said. "Man, you never hear about it? It's all about how he sailed home from Troy. Annabeth's making me read it to brush up on my Ancient Greek."

"Am...am I in here?" Calypso asked faintly, thumbing trough the pages.

Leo rubbed his neck uncomfortably.

"Uh...yeah. You are."

Calypso turned pale. "A mortal wrote this?"

"Well, no. Homer was a son of Apollo, I think."

"But the mortals know about me?" She looked dazed.

"Uh...pretty much." Leo confessed. "But don't worry, they think it's just a story. They don't know it really happened."

Calypso had been reading, her brows furrowing more and more.

"It didn't happen." she spat icily.

"Wh-what?" Leo asked, startled by her vehemence. "But you told me Odysseus came to your island too!"

"But it didn't happen this way." she insisted, thrusting the Greek verse under his nose.

"I didn't force him to stay." she elaborated, her voice nearly choking as she tried not to cry. "I would have never made him stay if it made him miserable, I..."

Her voiced cracked and Leo gave her a hug. He knew what she was going to say.

I loved him.

She drew a long breath in his arms and said "Zeus destroyed his ship. That was the only reason he stayed so long in mortal years. He had a wife. He had a son. As much as I...cared for him, I would have never barred him from that."

"Hey, I know." Leo soothed. "So Homer got it wrong. I think all old Greek myth type people get misrepresented sooner or later."

He thought of the monkey dwarf guys and what they had said about Odysseus' old age on Ithaka.

"Besides..." Leo began carefully. "I think Odysseus cared about you too."

She looked into his eyes. "You think so?"

"I know he did."

The dinner conch blew, and they both looked up instinctively at the noise.

"Alright, dinner!" Leo cheered. He took her hand. "Eating at my table again today?"

Calypso smiled. "Of course."

Leo extracted his hand and ran toward the workbenches. "Go on without me, I have to clean up here. I'll catch up."

She left and Leo put the tools away. When he picked up the book, he hesitated for a second and then opened it to the front cover.

On the inside was a painting of Odysseus, or at least what the artist thought he'd look like.

He was tall and regal and had a perfectly cut, bushy beard. But Leo couldn't help seeing his eyes as a little cold.

He shook his head and smiled.

"You really struck out, didn't you, man?"

He closed the book and ran out the cabin to dinner, determined to enjoy his good luck for once.


	57. Chapter 57

Frank thought his daughter was perfect.

Emily's baby teeth were finally coming in, her laugh was infectious (when she wasn't wailing), and she always crawled to him first. She was looking more and more like her mother every day, with her milky dark complexion and gold eyes setting in as she got older.

But there was one problem.

He noticed a marked difference between what happened when Hazel took her out into the mortal world and when he did.

With Hazel:

"Oh, she's so cute!"

"Oh, they grow so fast, don't they?"

"Your daughter's beautiful!"

With Frank:

"Is she yours?"

It never happened in New Rome because everyone knew them. But if he ever took her out into San Francisco, that was the constant refrain. He knew she was beginning to look less and less like him in complexion as she grew older but Frank thought it was obvious they were related. She had the Zhang forehead and chin, after all.

"Oh my, your daughter's beautiful."

Frank looked up from the bench he was siting at in the middle of San Francisco with Emily on his lap.

An old woman was beaming pleasantly at them.

"Aren't you, sweetie?" she put to Emily, leaning in.

Frank blinked in surprise but smiled.

"She gets it from her mother."

"But she has your forehead and chin, doesn't she?"

"Yes! Thank you!" Frank exclaimed.

The old woman chuckled.

"Let me guess, people don't often see the family resemblance."

Frank sighed.

"Sometimes it feels like people think I stole her from a nursery or something."

She laughed and pat his hand.

"Cheer up, dear. That doesn't change the fact that she's your daughter."

She tickled Emily's chin and said goodbye, leaving Frank to think.

He remembered how much he denied his own family. How he insisted they weren't Chinese, how hard he tried not to be associated with that part of himself.

But it hadn't helped in the end. He was still tied to his family's past, no matter what he thought. No matter what anyone else thought.

He remembered how he regretted over the years not learning about the Zhangs when he had someone to teach him.

He looked down at Emily who was yawning widely.

He thought of his Grandmother's stuffy old photos, rigid ghosts in a past he thought he had no part in.

He couldn't name a single person in any one.

"Naptime?" Frank cooed. "Okay. Why don't I tell you a story? There once was a prince named Peryclmenus, and he fought like a swarm of bees..."


	58. Chapter 58

Hedge lay facing the ceiling on his bunk.

His room on the Argo was messier than any of the teenagers', with gym equipment, laundry and assorted vegetarian snacks littering the floor.

But he made no effort to clean it up.

He just stared listlessly at the gold drachmas and the small fountain he had on his desk.

It had been days since he'd spoken with his wife, since Percy and Annabeth...

He grunted and rolled over on his side.

Yeah, right, he thought bitterly. What use was he to his wife and baby if he couldn't protect two kids?

He remembered how they had fallen helplessly, stubbornly, heartbreakingly clinging to each other, refusing to let go.

He wished he could do the same with Mellie, be with her and guard her and the child, never taking his eyes off of her for an instant.

Then he remembered the kids who were left on the ship. They were his responsibility, his charges.

But then he thought of his mother, a wind spirit just like his wife, gone, just gone all because he'd left her alone to protect a demigod.

He looked sadly at the only picture in his room. It was of him...fifty? Sixty years ago? When he as a young goat.

He was standing in the middle of camp, an old fashioned hardwood baseball bat in his arms.

Campers, most dead now, peppered the background. Frances Singer, a son of Apollo who had been killed by a manticore in the eighties, was on the Big House porch strumming a guitar.

A daughter of Aphrodite who's name he couldn't remember was flirting with a son of Hephaestus called Rogers on the grass.

He smiled to himself grudgingly. Over eighty years as a protector of demigods, he had to admit to himself, he had changed a lot of lives.

Sure some of them had died fighting monsters but not all of them did and he had brought all of them to camp safely at least.

He thought of Jason Leo and Piper, who wouldn't be on this ship if it wasn't for him.

Maybe he thought, that made it worth it. But his mother's beautiful voice still rang in his ears.

There was a knock on his door and Leo came in with a tray of sandwiches.

"Here coach, you forgot lunch." he said. "It's banana and peanut butter, your favorite."

"Excellent." Hedge exclaimed. Then, thinking this was a bit too cozy and friendly, he grumbled "Now get out of here and let me eat in peace or you'll be doing pushups before you can say 'kalamazoo'."

"Who would want to say kalamazoo?"

"Out, Valdez!"

Leo rolled his eyes and left, shutting the door behind him.

Hedge dug into the sandwiches with a grin.

Yeah, he thought, maybe kids had redeeming social value and deserved saving after all.


	59. Chapter 59

Jason stared out at the vast Greek landscape, the palms of his hands absently balancing on the Argo's railing. The stars twinkled down at him from the night sky.

The wind whipped his hair, longer than it had been in years and still sporting the white groove Sciron gave him.

You are like the wind

That was what Notus had said, but Jason felt more like a quartering victim; he felt torn in so many directions he thought he would burst.

On the one hand, he owed Camp Jupiter everything. It had been his home for as long as he could remember and he loved everyone there.

He missed it sometimes but still, when he was at Camp Half-Blood...he had never felt so alive.

There, he had friends who didn't treat him like some kind of hero or idol. They treated him like himself.

He had never felt so free as when he spent an afternoon chatting with Leo in his workshop, or playing basketball with the Apollo kids.

And Piper...the thought of going back to Camp Jupiter and never seeing her again made him feel sick to his stomach.

He clutched his picture of Thalia in his pocket like a lifeline.

H took it out of his pocket and looked at his sister's confident, happy face, so unlike his lately.

"Hey, are you still up?"

He turned around and a tall figure moved from the shadows to join him.

Annabeth made her way to the railing, leaned on the banister next to him, eying the photograph.

She smiled. "You kept that?"

"Yeah."

"What are you doing out here, anyway? Your watch ended hours ago."

"Just...thinking."

Jason glanced furtively at the picture again.

"If she were here...what do you think she'd tell me to do?" he asked abruptly.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"About...?"

"About...going back to Camp Jupiter or not."

"Oh. Well, Jason..." she said carefully "I think she would say...that you should do what makes you happy. And it seems like you weren't happy there."

A shadow crossed Annabeth's face and Jason knew she was thinking of Percy and the life he wanted to build there.

"Hey, don't worry." he said "It wasn't like that for him. He belongs there...I...I don't."

Annabeth gave him a sympathetic look and clapped him on his shoulder.

"Jason, Thalia was...always kind of a rebel. She never let anyone tell her what she was, not her mom, not Luke, not Chiron. I think she'd be proud you didn't fit in."

Jason looked at her uncertainly.

"Look" Annabeth continued "If there's one thing I learned the last few years it's that you can't waste your life being what other people want you to be."

Jason looked at her gratefully.

"I'm sorry." he said suddenly.

"What?"

"Sorry I didn't trust you. I should have. You risked everything, and I thought..." his voice trailed off in shame.

"And I'm sorry I didn't trust you." Annabeth told him.

He smiled.

"Friends?"

"Friends."

They shook hands and Annabeth gave him a quick hug.

"Uh...guys?"

They broke apart at the new voice.

Percy was standing behind them, bathed in the light coming up from the cabins looking bewildered.

"What...are you...doing?" he asked cautiously.

Jason flushed and was about to explain himself but Annabeth just laughed and took Percy's hand.

"Don't worry about it, Seaweed Brain." she said, kissing him.

As she dragged Percy off to the cabins she glanced at him in a silent goodbye.

He grinned back and looked again at Thalia's smiling face gazing up at him with his eyes.

A rebel. Let no one tell her who she was.

He felt lighter and more unburdened than he had all year as he put the photo back in his pocket and made his way back downstairs vaguely hearing Percy saying

"No but really, what were you guys doing?"


	60. Chapter 60

The doorbell rang hollowly through the Jackson apartment and Sally looked up from a reading assignment.

When she opened the door a tall girl with long blond hair and the clean sweater and skirt of a school uniform she hadn't bothered to change out of greeted her.

"Annabeth!" Sally exclaimed. "Come in."

She gave Sally a wan smile and Sally knew she hadn't been eating. Or sleeping.

Neither had she.

The weeks Percy had been missing hadn't been kind to either of them.

"Thanks, Sally." Annabeth said, muscling her backpack overstuffed with books through the doorway.

It had been years since she had called her Ms. Jackson. Sally had put a stop to it right away.

Annabeth deposited her bag on the kitchen table and sat down on a chair while Sally rummaged around the cupboards.

Annabeth bounced on the balls of her feet and rocked on the chair, staring into space in a distracted way, as if she were thinking of a better time.

Sally thought she had as short an attention span as her son.

"So how's school, dear?" Sally asked and Annabeth smiled, maybe because of the familiar territory.

"Good, I guess. We have exams soon..."

Annabeth's eyes got watery and she stared at the table quietly as if thinking how she and Percy would have be studying together there as Sally brought them plates of snacks and Annabeth would scold him for being lazy and they would have to be told to keep their voices down.

Annabeth seemed to be snapped out of her reverie when Sally put a plate of fresh cookies and some milk in front of her.

Annabeth wiped her eyes.

"Oh...thanks...I'm sorry." Annabeth murmured.

"Don't be."

Sally squeezed her shoulders and sat down next to her, taking a cookie.

As much to get their minds off things as anything else, Sally said

"Hey, have I ever told you the story of when I hit a police officer's car?"

Annbeth grinned slightly.

"No, you haven't."

"It was one of the worst winters and I had just learned to drive which is a bad combination. Hit some black ice and then another car. Just my luck it was the sheriff's."

Annabeth covered her mouth in laughter.

Sally chuckled.

"Or the time I pulled the best senior prank in school..."

Soon they were both howling with laughter, the plate of cookies just crumbs.

"Did Percy ever tell you about the time we..." Annabeth's voice died out at the mention of his name.

Sally sobered and they both looked at each other in silence. She sighed heavily and glanced at one of her favorite family photos hanging in the hallway.

In it Percy and Annabeth were holding hands, Percy wearing his dress shirt (never suits). They were giggling over something so much Sally could barely take the picture before they raced off for their first ever date.

"I was so happy when he told me." Sally confessed nostalgically.

Annabeth blushed. "Really?"

"Of course! You've always been a part of our family. And he's always been so happy with you."

Annabeth smiled playfully.

"He complained about me enough when we were kids."

Sally laughed. "Not to me didn't. He was always talking about how smart you were and how good you were at everything...it wasn't hard to figure out how much he liked you."

Annabeth stared intently at the cookie plate as if it were hard fro her to imagine that.

"I'm sure, wherever he is, he misses you a lot." Sally told her.

Annabeth smiled painfully.

"Actually, I don't know about that..."

At Sally's inquisitive look, Annabeth said

"Oh, that's right, I haven't told you yet, I completely forgot. That's what I came here to tell you...you see, this new boy, Jason...?"

And Annabeth explained his story, how he came to camp without knowing who he was, how he had remembered a demigod camp on the other side of the country.

"I've never heard of another camp before..." Sally commented in surprise.

"Yeah, neither did we."

But the crucial point taken from the story was something neither wanted to voice.

He could be alive and not know who we are.

That thought made them stew in their silence until the clock on the mantle chimed seven.

Sally shook herself out of her thoughts and tried bravely for briskness.

"Well, I think your school will be knocking down my door if I don't get you back soon." she said.

Annabeth scooped up her backpack and put the plate and cups in the sink.

At the hall, she turned.

"Goodbye, Sally."

"Goodbye, Annabeth. And...please come by anytime. You're family, you know that."

"Thank you." she smiled warmly and left.

When the apartment was empty Sally was surprised she felt so much better.

She wasn't alone. She and Annabeth would get through this together.

She thought of her son's smiling face whenever she was around.

He had definitely chosen a wonderful girl, and, Sally thought, no matter what happened, no mater what fate had in store for them, she would be their family.


	61. Chapter 61

"It's so great to see you again." Annabeth said happily, balancing tea on her lap as she sat down. "It's been ages."

Thalia grinned broadly as she took a cup. "I know, right? You have to tell me everything that's been going on. Is Percy still teaching at the Colosseum?"

Annabeth laughed. "Yes, I can't keep him away from the place. You know how he is."

Thalia snorted, brushing the black hair out of her face. Her blue eyes sparkled.

"Yeah, unfortunately, I do. And how's my little bro doing? Gods, I haven't been out to New York in forever."

"Oh, much the same as Percy, as you can imagine." Annabeth told her. "They never slow down, do they?"

"That's for sure." Thalia agreed.

"He and Piper were over for Christmas last year and I swear they spent the whole time sparring." Annabeth chuckled. "Brings back memories, doesn't it?"

Thalia smiled. "Yeah, sure does."

"And what about you?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia shrugged. "Same old, same old. Artemis had me track down a Manticore in Brooklyn last week, so that was pretty cool."

"Do you ever regret choosing this life?" Annabeth asked abruptly.

Thalia got a far away look in her eyes as if remembering Annabeth once considered joining the hunt.

"I do a little, every day." she confessed. "I miss having a normal life. I miss growing older with you guys."

"And boys?" Annabeth pointed out mirthfully.

Thalia smacked her arm playfully and they both laughed.

"Yeah, that too. But honestly, mostly it just hurts seeing you all get older while I stay fifteen."

She gazed wistfully at the mantle. Among baby pictures and wedding photos was a familiar shot of a punkish girl, a blond boy, and a seven year old girl smiling as though time had frozen for them.

"I can't believe it's been sixty years." Thalia breathed.

Annabeth swept her gray hair off her shoulders and her smile creased her face in wrinkles.

"I hardly can either."

Percy walked in holding a plate of sandwiches, his black hair long gone from salt and pepper to white.

"Afternoon, ladies." he said jovially, sitting down with them and helping himself to several ham sandwiches, his appetite never diminished from his youth. "I see someone hasn't grown out of the goth look."

"Watch it punk." Thalia grinned. "Or I'll blast you again."

"Try it." Percy challenged playfully.

Thalia shook her head.

"I love you guys. I'm glad something hasn't changed at least."

She took a sandwich and bit in as she got up.

"I better get going, we have a drakon to catch outside Frsico. But it was nice to see you two again."

Percy got up and put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Come back anytime." he said.

"Don't be a stranger." Annabeth said.

"I won't." Thalia promised.

As she turned to wave goodbye she could almost see them as two gangly teenagers again.

She smiled to herself as she walked out, glad that some things, as Annabeth would say, were permanent.


	62. Bonus Chapter

Spoilers for boo

Five months.

Piper checked off the first day of 2011, five months since the war ended. Five months since things slowly started going back to normal.

Five months since Leo died.

It had taken her a month to stop crying. All August she had cried at everything. Dropped a plate, she'd cry. Someone made a silly joke the way Leo did, she'd cry. Anything reminded her one of her best friends in the entire world whom she loved like a brother was gone, she'd cry.

Then it had turned into a bitter emptiness. She kept thinking she saw Leo out of the corner of her eye and the emptiness deepened.

Jason was taking it even worse. Once she had passed Cabin One and had heard inarticulate screaming, cursing and the sound of a table or chair breaking.

Last month she had caught him storming out of the Big House and when she had gone in she had found Chiron's gaming device thrown through the TV. Apparently he had unlocked Leo's secret Idiot Mode.

Piper sighed and was about to leave Cabin Ten to start her day when a slightly deep voice said

"Wow, 2011? I missed a lot of time."

Piper swiveled around, her eyes widening in shock.

She almost didn't recognize him he was so much taller and tanner, more toned and with wilder hair.

But it was Leo.

She let out an inarticulate scream of her own and tackled Leo to the ground.

Leo laughed. "Missed you too, Beauty Queen."

"Don't you Beauty Queen me, Valdez!" she shouted. "What happened to you? You were dead!"

At that moment, the cabin door opened and Jason poked his head in.

"Piper, are you-" he faltered. "Oh...oh my gods..."

Leo chuckled. "Yeah, I am pretty godly, dude."

Jason said nothing. He just ran up to Leo in a daze and grabbed him into a bear hug. He let his head rest silently on Leo's shoulder, like if he tried to talk he'd burst into tears.

"C'mon, man" Leo said gently. "Calypso's waiting in the pavilion. Let's get some grub and I'll explain, yeah?"

"So, basically we've been flying around, trying to find you guys" Leo said sipping his coffee "We fought a sea serpent off Bermuda-"

"Stopped at Malta for a while" Calypso chimed in.

"Saw Reyna's ancestors in San Juan." Leo recalled "When we got here I knew Pipes was probably in her cabin, so I let myself in" he grinned "Hey, can I use the phone?"

Piper dialed the number for the praetor office in Camp Jupiter. She had called Hazel there so many times, she memorized the number.

"Reyna?" she said "Get Frank and Hazel for me...I don't care just get them, we'll explain later"

There was silence for a second then a girl's voice with a slight Southern accent said

"Piper?"

Piper handed Leo the phone.

"'Sup, Levesque. How you been, mi amiga?"

There was a shriek and Hazel began babbling.

"Leo, how...? Nico said...! What on Earth...? Frank! FRANK! Get in here! Now!"

The receiver changed hands and Leo grinned.

"Hey, big guy. Miss me?"

Leo vaguely heard a choking sound, the sure warning sign Frank was going to cry.

"Leo...I...I'm so sorry about..."

"Forget it, man." Leo laughed. "I bullied you into it, remember?"

A car horn sounded.

"And that's Percy and Annabeth back from visiting Sally." Jason informed them, craning his neck to see.

"Gotta go, Zhang" Leo said "Gotta go give Aquaman a heart attack."

He put the phone down and ran outside, to his future.

That winter break, Reyna made an exception and gave Frank and Hazel leave to go to New York, and the seven of them spent the new year together. They crammed into Percy's too small apartment and Sally insisted on taking a picture with all seven of them, Percy and Leo making goofy faces while Annabeth rolled her eyes, Frank stuffing his face with cake and Hazel playfully hitting his arm, Jason and Piper smiling for the first time in months.

And suddenly their family was whole again.


	63. Bonus Chapter 2

boo spoilers

It happened on a hot August night.

Nico was lounging by himself in Hades cabin when the door opened and Will Solace lumbered in groaning.

Nico sat up and involuntarily smiled. They had been friends for over two years now and lately whenever Nico saw him his pulse raced and he felt inexplicably happy.

"Long day, Will?" he asked. Will. He wondered idly when he had stopped being Solace and started being Will to him as Will grabbed a cola from Hazel's secret stash she smuggled from Camp Jupiter.

Will flopped down on the bed beside Nico and Nico blushed when their hands brushed. They were so close Nico gulped uncertainly.

"Like you wouldn't believe" Will sighed, oblivious to his friend's nervous tension.

He had just gotten to camp for summer session and already he had been in surgery almost the entire day. A younger, new camper had recklessly gone into the woods and had been gored by some kind of monster. There was no time to get him to a regular hospital.

Will had saved the boy's life, Nico realized with a surge of pride in his friend.

"So, where's your sister?" Will asked, sipping his soda as he glanced at Nico.

"Huh? Oh..." Nico had been staring at Will's intent eyes. He smirked "She's visiting Frank in the Ares cabin"

Will grunted "I don't like the idea of your sister seeing one of his kids. I dunno about mars, but I know sons of Ares are rotten."

"Frank's okay" Nico defended him. "He's always good to Hazel. That's all I care about."

Will grunted again and lay down as he threw his empty aluminum can away. His arm stretched across Nico's stomach as he did so, and Nico felt he would explode right here but before he could think about it much Will gave him that hard look that always gave Nico butterflies in his stomach.

"Hey, man, I..." Will ran his fingers through his hair "Never mind. Hey, you choose who you want on your team for Capture the Flag?"

"Hmm..." Nico considered. "I don't know. Jason wanted to be...maybe I'll ask Percy."

Will twitched slightly. "Oh" His voice was hollow.

Nico stared at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Will grumbled. "Forget it."

"You're angry with me?" Nico asked almost in panic. He didn't want to lose his best friend.

"No. I'm sure Percy will a great partner." Will said bitterly.

Nico began to get annoyed. What had he done?

"Maybe he will!" Nico said hotly.

"Fine!"

"Why do you care so much!"

"Because I'm in love with you, you idiot!"

The large empty cabin echoed his words. I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you.

It rang in Nico's ears and Will scowled in defiance, maybe daring Nioc to laugh.

Nico couldn't laugh. He could barely speak.

"You...love me?" he croaked.

"Yes." Will said almost shamefacedly.

Nico swallowed. "I...do too."

"You what?"

"I love you."

"Well good then."

"Yeah.'

"Fine."

Will looked away bashfully. Then without warning he grabbed Nico roughly by his black shirt and kissed him.

Will's face was still defiant when he pulled away and got up.

"Glad that's settled then." he said gruffly. "See you tomorrow."

Nico couldn't speak. He just gaped as Will took his leave.

Later Hazel came back to Nico whistling tunelessly in his bed. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you so happy?" she grinned.

Nico grinned with her. "Who knows?"

Hazel laughed. "You weirdo."

She climbed into bed.

That night, Nico dreamed of a grumpy, beautiful boy who didn't give up on him, gods only know why.


	64. Bonus Chapter 3

BOO spoilers

"Mom, we really don't have to do this." Percy said nervously.

Sally ignored him.

The other day, the bell had rung at Sally's apartment.

When she opened the door, Percy and Annabeth were standing on the porch, grinning. They were cut, bruised, and looked exhausted, but they were very much alive.

At first her throat was swollen up so much with tears she couldn't speak. She felt like she's faint on the spot.

As she stared, Paul came in to see what was happening and dropped his mug of coffee.

"Hi, mom." Percy said, finally, a slight crack in his voice. "We're back."

The dam broke.

Sally and Paul both ran to hug Percy as Sally began to sob.

Annabeth smiled and was about to walk discreetly away when Sally grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh, no you don't." Sally said, her voice husky with tears. "I'm so glad you're okay, dear. I was so worried when you went off on that quest."

Annabeth blushed. "T-thank you..." she stammered, caught off guard.

"I thought I'd never see either of you again. One message! One! I had no idea if you were dead, or..." she began to cry again.

"I'm sorry." Percy said. "We were being watched. We had to keep a low profile."

"Watched?" Paul asked eagerly. "You mean you had to go undercover?"

He said it like he thought it sounded incredibly fun.

"Paul!" Sally protested.

"Sorry, dear."

Sally ushered them in and set down a plate of cookies as they recounted the entire quest.

It had pained Sally to see their new scars and to see the hollow look in their eyes as they talked about Tartarus, or their friends who they had lost.

But at least they were alive. At least they were alive.

Now, Sally marched them through the front doors of the Empire State building.

"Mom, I'm telling you, this is a bad idea." Percy insisted.

"He's right." Annabeth agreed.

"I know what I'm doing." Sally said. "Don't worry. It's been a long time since I've spoken with your father, but I know how to deal with him."

"But what about the other eleven gods?" Percy muttered as the elevator took them to the very top.

In the audience hall, all twelve Olympians were convening for a meeting, all twenty feet tall and menacing in their armor and cloaks.

Their muttering stopped when they saw their visitors.

"How. Dare. You." Sally hissed into the silence.

The gods murmured in outrage, but she pointed at Poseidon.

"Your own son!"she shouted "For months—months!-I didn't even know if he was alive! And you knew the whole time!"

Poseidon looked uncomfortable. "Sally, I...believe me, I wouldn't have let the boy come to harm,"

Sally snorted. "And you-" she rounded on Athena "You call yourself a mother? How can you stand to look at yourself in the mirror when you sent your own daughter to her death?"

Athena puffed up like the owls that were sacred to her.

"My dear lady-" she rumbled.

"It's okay" Annabeth whispered. "I was fine."

"No thanks to her."

Hera stood up, her face livid. "My poor, foolish woman" she said coolly, deliberately. "You have no idea of our ways."

"And what way is that? Having children do your dirty work for you?"

She turned to Aphrodite. "Your daughter nearly died in Rome, did you know?"

She looked at Hephaestus. "Your son died. Do you even care?"

To Ares she sneered "Your son's alive even with his curse, did you bother to check?"

Finally she looked Zeus in the eyes. "This whole fiasco is your fault! You should have listened to my son. He's a better man than you ever could be."

Zeus rose slowly, stiff and menacing, thunder crashing around him. He raised his arm and a large lightning bolt appeared.

Percy and Annabeth took out their swords but before Zeus could blast them Poseidon yelled

"Wait!"

Zeus hesitated.

"Sally speaks only out of love for our son." he said. He looked at Athena. "And for your daughter, niece."

Hera nodded thoughtfully. "This is true. A mother's grief is strong, I know."

"The woman doesn't know what she says." Poseidon continued. "Please spare her, brother."

"Yes, husband." Hera said "Given the circumstances, we can...overlook her behavior."

Zeus grumbled but sat down again. "Very well. But I want you three out of my sight. Now."

"Your welcome for ending another war!" Percy called up but Annabeth dragged him away before Zeus could reply.

"Well, that was fun." Percy commented when they were outside.

"Did you have to antagonize him?" Annabeth asked him.

"What?" Percy protested.

Sally wasn't listening. She just breathed in their living scent, their heat, their laughing voices.

They're alive. They're alive.


	65. Bonus Chapter 4

Annabeth walked up to her mother's monumental estate half annoyed, half apprehensive. Athena had never summoned her to her home on Olympus before.

"Mother?" she called uneasily as she made her way into the foyer. "You called me?"

"Come in, love."

Annabeth followed her mother's voice until she reached a small side room where her mother was sitting on a small golden chair.

"Come in, Annabeth." she called.

Annabeth ducked into the room and realized it was a nursery.

In the corner by the chair was a pure gold crib, scenes of Athena's greatest conquests—the founding of Athens, Odysseus's triumphant return, the Orestes's trial—etched into the metalwork.

Nestled in silk blankets was a golden haired baby boy, fast asleep.

"I recently gave birth to him." Athena said in answer to Annabeth's surprised look. "I've named him Alexander, after the great conqueror."

"He's beautiful." Annabeth admitted. "But why are you telling me this?"

Athena's eyes flashed with pain for just a moment.

"The boy's father, I'm afraid, has passed away. He was scheduled to be taken to his mortal family, but-" Athena shrugged. "There is noone to send him to. I know your family is growing large..."

Annabeth let a hand rest on her stomach. She and Percy had two sons and a third child on the way. As much as Percy wanted a big family, she didn't think they could handle two new babies.

"But if you know someone willing take him."

Annabeth thought then snapped her fingers.

"I know just the people!"

Annabeth knocked on the door of a Long Island town house late at night.

A tall gaunt man with shaggy black hair opened the door and grinned.

"Annabeth! What a surprise!"

"Hi, Nico. Will." She nodded at a blond man behind Nico.

Nico's eyes settled on the baby strapped to Annabeth's back and frowned.

"Uh, Annabeth...last time I checked, you were still five months pregnant...who's the kid?"

"This is Alex."

Annabeth explained the situation as they led her into the kitchen and Will fixed them sandwiches and coffee.

Annabeth cradled Alex and bounced him on her knee, the boy gently murmuring as she did so.

"-So, I thought since you two have been talking about adoption lately..." she finished.

Will swallowed thickly. "Wow...thanks, Annabeth. But I just don't know if we're ready. I mean, we've only been married for a year and I don't even know if we can afford a baby yet."

"Mom's agreed to pay...well I guess there's no better word for it. Child support. She'll pay for anything Baby Alex needs."

She passed the slowly nodding off baby to Nico's arms.

"And for the record, I think you two would be great parents."

Nico and Will gave each other significant looks, the kind she and Percy used when having a silent conversation.

"Tell you what. Why not think it over tonight?"

They looked intently at the baby and almost forgot to answer.

"Alright." Will managed. "Why don't you stay the night?"

When Annabeth went to sleep, they stayed up, taking turns holding the baby.

"He's gorgeous." Will offered.

"Yeah."

"It's a big commitment."

"I know."

"We'll have to move to New Rome. To protect him."

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, Nico?"

"Hmm?"

"It's worth it, isn't it?"

The baby yawned and rubbed his faces sleepily on Nico's shirt, cooing softly.

"Definitely."

When Annabeth came down for breakfast the first words out of their mouths were "We'll keep him!"

Annabeth looked surprised by their adamant answer but she smiled happily.

"That's great!"

She put her hand on Alex's forehead, still cradled in Nico's arms, and kissed it.

"From now on, you're not my little brother. You're my little nephew."

She helped Nico and Will buy the things they needed, a crib, diapers, toys, and promised to let her mother know her son was taken care of.

She took a picture of the new family before she left, the blond baby looking for the all the world Will's flesh and blood in his arms and Nico beaming next to him.

When Annabeth finallyleft for home, Nico picked up the home phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Sis?" he smiled as he held up the receiver. "It's me. Guess who's an aunt?"


	66. Bonus Chapter 5

On Capitol Hill, Jason crouched next to a new shrine, a four-feet slab of granite dedicated to a son of Jupiter who had been deified into a minor god, like Hercules was. Like Percy almost had been.

He bowed and placed a few oranges by it as an offering.

He put his hand on the cold stone, as if to congratulate the god for finally being recognized.

"Well, Kim" he said into the wind "I kept my promise."

He frowned grimly. "Now for the fun part."

He made his way into the praetor office and reluctantly dressed for the ceremony. He placed the laurel wreath on his head, fastened the purple cloak with an Imperial gold brooch. He felt uncomfortable. It reminded him too much of his past. The toga felt almost unfamiliar when he donned it.

"You look very handsome." a calm voice offered.

He turned around to see a girl in gold armor and a purple cape like his.

Reyna walked up to him and straightened his brooch absently.

"Congratulations, by the way, my friend." she said.

Jason's throat caught. "Reyna, I...I mean we never got to talk about..."

Reyna put a hand up. She almost looked amused. "I understand, Jason. None of what happened between us was your fault. I knew for a long time, anyway, it wasn't destined to be."

Jason looked confused. "How?"

"Not important" she said quickly. "The point is...it's okay. All I have ever wished for is your happiness."

She slapped him on the back, a little half-heartedly. Jason was grateful she was trying to be happy for him, for his sake.

He smiled. "Thank you...friends?"

"Friends." Reyna agreed. There was sadness in her eyes but no bitterness in her tone. "Now, go. Everyone's waiting."

They walked together to Jupiter's temple, where the entire legion was assembled and at attention. Hazel waved at him from the head of the Fifth.

Assorted guests were sitting to the side on chairs. He caught a glimpse of Percy and Annabeth, their noses in a book, trying to finish some last minute college homework. He saw Percy look up and grin at him. He nudged Annabeth and pointed Jason out to her.

Jason made his way nervously to the center of the temple where Frank in full praetor uniform and the new auger were waiting for him.

The crowd went silent. He and Frank faced each other and Frank's eyes twinkled as if to apologize for the ridiculous ritual they were about to do.

Frank raised his hands and Jason bowed.

"Jason Grace" Frank boomed. "Do you swear to uphold the law and spirit of Rome, your fatherland?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to dedicate your life to the glory of Rome, and to the glory of the gods?'

"I do."

"You have made an oath to create a temple for each god. Do you swear by mighty Jupiter you will not rest until this task is done?"

"I do."

"Then I declare you pontifex maximus! Ave, Jason Grace, pontifex maxiumus!"

There was a roar of Ave! Pontifex maximus! from the crowd. Even Annabeth waved vaguely, which was indulgent attention for her when midterms were coming up.

Frank hugged him as was traditional and the big guy was almost crying.

Tears welled up in Jason's eyes too. He wasn't alone. He had a family. Then Piper smiled at him from the audience and he warmed. He had a future, a future in both camps and he didn't have to choose between them.

Well, Hera he thought You wanted me to be a bridge.

He took a deep breath and looked at the audience, purple and orange shirts mixed, chitons and togas alike in the sea of people.

So here I am. Being a bridge.


	67. bonus Chapter 6

"Thanks for watching him, McLean" Hedge barked gruffly, thrusting a wiggling satyr toddler into Piper's hands.

Piper smiled. Even after a year of marriage to Jason, Coach still called her by her old name.

"No problem, Coach" she said, extracting the child from his father. "How are you today, Chuck?"

Chuck beamed under a tuft of brown hair. Small horns were growing from his head already.

"Good" he said "Can I have some cookies?"

Piper laughed. "Okay, okay, but say bye to your daddy first."

"Um...um...bye daddy!" he directed at Hedge, then dodged into the kitchen.

"You mind your manners, boy!" Hedge yelled after him.

Piper laughed again. "He's alright. You have a good night, Coach."

Hedge snorted gruffly and left.

While she fed her newborn twin sons, Piper gave Chuck a paper plate of cookies and a Styrofoam cup of milk. He consumed the food and drink along with the dishes.

Around the time Jason came home, she put him to bed.

"Tell me a story?" Chuck pleaded.

"Okay" Piper agreed. She thought for a moment.

"Have you ever heard the story of how your daddy saved your uncle Leo's life?"

He shook his head, transfixed.

"Well, there we were, on the Grand Canyon when we were attacked by storm spirits!"

Chuck gasped. "Then what, Aunt Piper?"

"One of them threw your uncle off the canyon and your daddy jumped down all the way to save him. Then he fought off the storm spirits all by himself and saved all of us."

"Wow" Chuck breathed. He had clearly never saw his aging, bombastic father as a hero.

Piper grinned. "And did you ever here how he fought a sea monster? Or the time he knocked out a goddess? How about how he brought that huge statue of Athena all the way to camp from the ancient lands?"

She told him every one of Hedge's feats she could remember from their journey, from silly moments like when Aphrodite decked him out in an awful suit, to his greatest battles against monsters they faced.

Chuck remained attentive until he eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, when Hedge and Mellie came to get him, Chuck ran up to his father excitedly.

"Daddy! Daddy! Aunt Piper told me you were a hero! Is it true you beat up all those monsters? Huh? Huh?"

Mellie giggled, and Hedge picked him up. He gave Piper a grateful glance, his eyes shining.

He turned to his son. "You bet, champ! And I'll tell you what else..."

The family left, Hedge giving Piper another silent thank you as they went.

Chuck stood at the base of a new sprig of an oak tree. He was a tall and muscular young satyr now, his horns fully grown in. Though he had been alive for almost sixty years, he still looked like a man in his early thirties.

He put a hand on the small, growing tree and smiled sadly.

"You got a good new life, Dad. I'm glad. You deserved it. You were a hero."


	68. Bonus Chapter 7

"...And then just like that...bam! The twelve Olympian gods were there, ready to fight with us!"

Jason smiled in satisfaction as his three grandchildren and five great nieces and nephews gasped.

Family Thanksgiving was at his and Piper's house this year and as Leo and Calypso tinkered in the garage, Percy cooked the turkey and Piper, Annabeth and Hazel prepared the table, he landed the job of entertaining the young ones.

He chuckled and began to polish his bifocals, rocking slightly in his chair as he continued the story. No matter how old they got, his grandchildren Dan, Jacob, and Hannah never got tired of this story. Neither did his friends' grandchildren.

"We each teamed up with a god and fought the giants head on, two against one! I fought alongside your great grandfather, Jupiter."

"Not!" Dan whispered in awe.

Piper, who was washing dishes a few feet a way in the kitchen, gave Jason a grin that crinkled her eyes, the same smile she'd given him for fifty years.

And no matter how many times they hear it, they never believe it. She seemed to be saying.

"It's true!" Jason insisted, putting his glasses back on. "It took us months to get there and they fell in minutes."

"Ask your dads, kids," Piper laughed "They grew up with this story."

Even after fifty years, that took Jason's breath away.

The fact that he had sons, sons he survived to have and raise until they had their own children was still nothing short of a miracle to him.

Percy finished up and called

"Okay, pups! Time to wash your hands!"

The children scrambled up and dashed for the bathroom.

Percy walked up to Jason and chuckled.

"Poor kids, they've been hungry for ever."

Jason shook his head. "It's still so surreal, isn't it?"

Percy grinned. "That they even exist?"

"That we even survived."

Percy laughed heartily. "Yes, that too." his eyes swam with emotion and his voice became serious.

"When we were kids, and I first got to Camp Jupiter...well, I saw a future for us there. All of us. And I knew I would do whatever it took to make that happen, no matter what the Fates said."

Jason snorted. "You are so full of schist." he said "You were just as worried we'd go down fighting as the rest of us."

Percy laughed again. "Maybe."

Annabeth came in and gave Percy a peck on the cheek. "Come on, Seaweed Brain...dinner's ready."

She went into the kitchen and Percy fixed Jason with a smile.

"Maybe," he said again "But we didn't. And if this is Fate's consolation...I think it's pretty good."

Jason smiled. "Yeah. It is."

They went to join their family, the future that seemed so impossible fifty years ago.


	69. Bonus Chapter 8

"You look absolutely gorgeous, Sis."

Nico kissed his sister on the cheek as she sat racked with nerves in the praetor office.

In a few minutes an officer was going to come for her and she and Frank were going to be married.

Nico was keeping her company and it seemed to be calming her down though every metal object in the room was subtlety vibrating toward her.

Hazel smiled radiantly, despite her nervousness. She really was beautiful. Though she was only wearing her uniform, not a dress, it was burnished to perfection and her lush hair draped over her left shoulder.

But it was her eyes that were most stunning. When they had first met, they had a dullness to them, whetted by so much pain. Now they glowed and sparkled with happiness. It made him happy to see how much her life had improved. How much both of their lives improved.

"Y'know...on the topic of weddings..." Hazel said giving him a sly look "It's legal in New York and all..."

Nico punched her lightly. "Don't rush me, sis," he laughed. "Will and I will get married when we feel like it."

"Okay, okay," Hazel grinned. "I just like Will is all. I'd love to have him as a brother-in-law."

"Maybe you will some day."

"Hey Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For everything. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

Nico smiled tenderly. "Remember what I told you when the Giant War ended? I gave you your life but you made it great."

She beamed.

Just then, someone opened the door but it wasn't the officer. It was Frank. He was decked out in his dress uniform too, his many legion decorations pinned on his chest.

"Frank!" Hazel shrieked, ducking behind Nico. "You know you're not supposed to see me!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's just...Nico, we need a favor."

"What's that?"

"Well, Julia's sick, so..."

"No. Gods of Olympus, no."

"Noone else can do it."

"Hades, no."

"You said you wanted to."

"We were kids! I was joking!"

"Still..."

Nico groaned. "Oh gods, you're making me do this."

"I'm sorry, man," Frank appologized. "It's the only way."

Nico sighed. "If I must."

A few minutes later and Nico found himself throwing flower petals all around as Frank and Hazel walked between the guests to the end of the isle.

"Horray," he intoned listlessly as he hit several legionaries with his flowers.

But as the ceremony ended and Frank and Hazel kissed his expression softened.

They really had made it a good life.


	70. Bonus Chapter 9

BOO spoilers!

Annabeth woke up one August morning smiling. Percy's sixteenth birthday had just past and finally, finally after five years of having a crush on him, denying her feelings for him, falling in love with him despite herself, they were together.

She got out of bed still beaming. It was the last day of summer session and the next day she and Percy would be going to New York together. She could hardly wait.

Thinking it would be best to wake Percy up and make sure he packed, she made her way to Cabin Three.

She knocked on the door but he didn't answer.

"Percy?" she said "Wake up! If we're late again, we're gonna have kitchen duty all summer next year."

She opened the door. The lights were off and through the gloom illuminated by his Iris message fountain, she saw his bed was empty.

It had been their general policy since they were twelve to tell each other when they were going to sneak out, so Annabeth felt slightly panicked. What if he was in trouble? But maybe he just went to breakfast early.

She turned around and jogged toward the pavillion.

She ran into Connor Stoll going the other way and called

"You seen Percy, Connor?"

"No," he called back smirking "Maybe he's waiting for you under the lake."

"Shut up, Stoll" Annabeth said playfully, giving him a rude gesture as he laughed.

But she went to the canoe lake anyway and kneeled down to talk to the neirads.

"Hey, have any of you guys seen Percy?" she asked a group hanging out by the surface.

"Yes, dear," one giggled "The young lord went to his father's palace before daybreak."

"Why?" Annabeth asked. Percy doing anything before daybreak was unusual.

Just then there was a great burst of water like a small geyser and Percy broke the surface of the lake and walked onto land perfectly dry.

"Morning," Percy grinned "Just the person I wanted to see."

"And where have you been?" she poked his chest, grinning with him. "A few more minutes and I'd have had to cover for you with Chiron."

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "I was visiting my dad, and..."

He frowned at the water spirits. "Can we have a minute?"

The spirits giggled uncontrollable but they swam away.

Percy put his hand in his shorts pocket and he suddenly looked a bit nervous.

He blushed slightly as he stammered "Well, see, I didn't get you a birthday present and...and you made me that cake..." he gulped "And we started dating and all so I thought..."

He pulled something out of his pocket. "Here."

Annabeth's breath caught. Percy held up a small gem-like coral. It was ruby red and gleamed in the sun.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"You like it?" Percy asked eagerly.

"Of course!"

Percy smiled tenderly and gently took her hand as he pulled her necklace off. He carefully untied it and threaded it through a small hole in the coral.

He put it back on her and kissed her. "So you'll never forget me."

"How can I ever forget someone so obnoxious?"

Percy pushed her playfully and they both laughed.

"Happy birthday, Annabeth."

"Annabeth?"

It was the end of summer session the year after the Giant War and Annabeth was sitting on her bed surrounded by her suitcases.

She had been palming the coral still strung on her necklace when the voice called her back to reality.

Percy was standing there, a suitcase in his hand.

"The legion car's waiting," he said "You ready for college, Wise Girl?"

She looked at the coral again, shining as it caught the light, a constant reminder she would always have her annoying better half. No matter how scary the future was he had always been a constant, a bit of stability, a bit of permanence in her life.

She looked up and grinned.

"You know it, Seaweed Brain."


	71. Bonus Chapter 10

Nico stood tensely at the steps of the Big House, frowning at his own nerves.

C'mon, Nico he thought it's only for three days.

He walked resolutely up to the porch. When he got inside he made a beline for the basement stairs. Te door had a handwritten sign in Solace's handwritting

EMERGENCY EXTRA INFIRMARY

The idea of spending three days alone with Solace made his stomach inexplicably twist but he opened it.

The basement was covered with beds full of kids with sword wounds, bites, and other injuries from the recent battle. Solace was bending over a bed, sewing up a nasty gash in a boy's leg.

"There you are," Solace grumbled at once as he entered, as if he expected Nico an hour ago.

Solace strode up to him and thrust a box of bandages into his hands.

"For the next three days, you are my patient and my assistant," he said matter of factly, turning to walk toward a bed. He looked back almost gently. "And...I'm glad you're okay, Nico."

Nico was speechless with consternation at being ordered around and the funny twisting feeling returning at Solace's kind words.

"Uh...thanks," he managed.

Solace grunted a response as he tended the boy with the bad leg again.

The first person to come in was Connor Stoll. Clarisse had nicked him with her knife when he tried to "borrow" more land mines from Ares cabin.

"So, doing your time, Di Angelo?" Stoll asked playfully as Nico bandaged his arm.

Nico smiled wanly. "I suppose so."

"Yes he is," Solace said confidently, coming up to check Nico's work.

When Stoll had left Solace gave Nico a pleased expression.

"Good work on that bandage," Solace said happily. "I'd have you as a nurse anyday

He pat Nico on the back but his hand passed through.

Solace rubbed his hand in surprise and Nico's face went red with embarrassment.

"Sorry," Nico said. "That happens sometimes, still."

Solace frowned. "And that's why I expect you here tomorrow."

So Nico came again the next morning. Now, a small punching bag hung on the wall in back.

"I scrounged it up from our physical therapy supplies," Solace informed him. His face went stern. "I expect you to do at least ten sets by lunch. It should help you stay solid. Get to it!"

Nico was again taken aback by how fearlessly Solace told him what to do. It rankled, but it was also nice not to be feared.

So he went as many rounds as he could with the bag without complaint until he collapsed and Solace called a break, coming up to him with a handful of snacks and sodas.

Nico was relieved when Solace passed him a bag of chips it didn't pass through him to the floor

They ate and drank in silence until

"You're doing better," Solace offered, sipping a soda.

"I feel better," Nico agreed. "I feel less like a ghost anyway."

The idea of ghosts got him thinking of Bryce Lawrence, who he faded into nothing. That got him thinking of something that had been bothering him since the end of the war.

"Uh, Solace...the erason I didn't come here before...I mean do you...I..."

He swallowed.

"Don't you think I'm a horrible human being for what happened to Ocatvian?"

Solace raised an eyebrow, finsihing the dregs of his soda. "Think you're horrible for someone offing themselves," he said laconically "Yeah, that's logical."

"I let it happen."

"We all let it happen, Nico."

They lapsed into silence again until Solace observed

"You can't feel taste, can you?"

Nico looked down at his tasteless chips.

"No."

"Hmm," Solace said. "Come back tomorrow, I have an idea."

The next morning Nico again came to the infirmary.

Solace handed him a tupperware container and a fork.

"Eat this," he instructed. "Spicy gumbo from your sister."

Nico smiled. "Great, i'm starving."

"Spicy food might make your sense of taste return," Solace explained. "Do you taste it?"

"Kind of," Nico said.

"That sister of yours is something," Solace laughed. 'She said eat it or you answer to her."

Nico smirked, "Yeah, she really is. Well ajusted for someone born in twenty-eight, too."

Solace shook his head. "I still can't believe you guys were born seventy years ago. You both seem so normal."

The compliment made Nico's stomach flutter and his face flushed.

"You know, I'll miss having you around here," Solace said wistfully. Catching himself he quickly added "Er, having the help, I mean."

"Right."

"if you want to come back..."

"Maybe I will."

"Good."

"Right."

Nico ate his soup, the butterfly in his stomach not lessening until he left for dinner.

The next day he found himself going down the basement stairs, even though his rest period was supposed to be over.

Solace seemed surprised to see him but grinned.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, nothing particular to do, so..." Nico shrugged. "Thought I'd come help again...Will."

Solace looked slightly shocked at Nico using his first name but he slowly grinned wider.

"Thanks, Nico."

Nico smiled, took some bandages and began to help, trying to ignore the fluttering in his stomach, focusing for the time being on how happy he was to have a friend.


	72. Bonus Chapter 11

BOO spoilers

"Sis?"

Reyna had been staring at the picture of herself and Jason hanging on the praetor office wall when she was startled out of her thoughts by her sister's voice.

"Reyna," Hylla said gently, taking a seat next to her.

"Hello, sister," Reyna said dully. She knew what she was going to say. That she was leaving. For good. Like her father. Like Jason. Like everyone.

But what she did say surprised her.

"You will always have a home with me, little sister," Hylla told her.

Reyna's eyes twinkled. "And become an Amazon?"

"Well, if you ever want to leave this boys' club of yours..."

Reyna laughed. "I like my boys' club, thanks. Thank you, but this is is my home."

"Yet, it won't be the same without him," Hylla said simply.

Reyna looked up bitterly into Jason's smiling photograph. The war had ended and they had left Camp Half-Blood, and with it, Jason.

"Hey," Hylla said soothingly, "Do you remember what you told Orion?"

Reyna grinned. "Something about not needing any man in my life?"

"Exactly," Hylla said. "And who knows, it may be for the best this way. Do you remember what I said when we left San Juan?"

"You said...you said some things needed to change and that even though it was scary, it had to happen for us to have a better life. Even if we couldn't see how."

Hylla clasped a hand on Reyna's shoulder. "You were brave enough to send our father on, something I never had the courage for. Whatever happens, mi hermana pequena, you are strong and you will adapt. And you will always be my baby sister."

Reyna hugged her tightly, shutting her eyes against tears.

"May I...may I see you to the door?" she managed.

"Of course. I love you, Reyna."

"I love you too, sis."

Reyna waved, blinking back tears as she saw her sister disappear into the night.

Suddenly, a new figure appeared in her place.

"Nico?" Reyna called as Nico became visible, his hair disheveled, his eyes unfocused and his expression troubled.

Reyna ran up to hug him.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you in camp? Nico, what's wrong?"

"Shadow traveled...had to get away..." he hugged her back absently and gulped. "It's Will...I think I..."

"Ah," Reyna smiled slyly and took his hand.

"This calls for emergency hot chocolate."

Nico smiled wanly. "This late?"

"Questioning my authority, Di Angelo?"

Nioc laughed. "No, no, of course not."

"Good," she grinned.

As she steered him inside, she reflected that her sister had been right. Sometimes change was necessary. She would have never been friends with Nico had they not both changed. The two camps would still be at war if things hadn't have changed. And though it hurt, Jason was happy because things had changed.

She shook thoughts of Jason out of her head. Because she had been right, too.

She couldn't learn anything from ghosts.


	73. Bonus Chapter 12

Calypso wrinkled her nose as she clung tighter to Leo's waist, wind whistling in her face as Festus flew.

"We're lost," she commented.

"That's right, Sunshine," Leo agreed cheerfully. "just you, me, and a half incinerated metal dragon with a broken navigation device. Now that's my kind of party."

"I'm happy for you," Calypso said, amused, "But what about your friends? Don't you want to see them?"

Leo's expression darkened for a moment at the thought of his friends—no, his family—who thought he was dead. Were they mourning him right now? Did they burn his shroud already? Were they regretting they didn't get to say goodbye? He already missed them more than he could put into words. It was as if the hole in his heart that formed when he left Calypso was being ripped apart again, thinking about them.

He swallowed thickly and tried for a wan smile. "Let's just take one thing at a time. Let's get you out of here, then I can worry about my friends. Uh..."

He turned around bashfully. "You don't happen to know how to get out of this place, do you?"

As far as he could tell, they were still in the Sea of Monsters.

Calypso raised her eyebrows. "You're the captain," she said plainly.

It took several months for them to find the exit in the mortal world.

They ate from magically filling plates and cups Leo had packed onto Festus and took turns flying the slightly malfunctioning dragon.

When they finally saw mortal land, Leo's hair was a mess and getting in his eyes. Stubble lined his jaw in his first ever traces of a beard.

Calypso's eyes hardened at the sight of land. "Of course we'd end up here."

"Why? What is it?"

"My home," Calypso said simply. "I believe it's called Malta, now."

Leo felt like he'd been punched. Of course. How could he forget? This was were he sat, heartbroken and alone, waiting for his friends, the sensation of a kiss pulsing through him like song, as if it would never leave.

"Hey, I know," he said suddenly. "Let's have a Calypso's Free and Leo's Not Dead celebration! My treat."

"What do you suggest?"

"Uh, I know a good coffee place here."

Calypso glossed over why he had been to Malta before and asked

"What's coffee?"

Leo cackled. "Oh, this is going to be even more fun than Hazel..."

They took a seat at the exact table he was sitting at not two months before when his friends came to get him. They looked at the menus (Leo explaining what some things were) and ordered coffee and a light lunch.

"I guess this is our first date," Leo said, trying to sound casual, as the waiter brought them their food.

Calypso gave a him a confused look.

"'Date'?'

"Oh, yeah. More fun than Hazel."

Leo looked up at the sky and sighed. Thinking about Hazel made his heart squeeze. He loved being with Calypso but he found himself missing the banter in the Argo's mess hall, the smell of the camp's strawberries, the six people he cared about most in the world (besides Calypso) who were waiting for him back home.

"You miss them, don't you?" Calypso said, as if reading his mind.

He nodded and smiled.

"Yeah. I do. But I got a broken dragon, a super-hot girlfriend, and a navigation device I can totally probably maybe fix. I'll get back to them."

Calypso smiled. "I can't wait to meet them."

"Me too."

Leo sipped his coffee and silently vowed.

I'll come back to you guys. I'll come back home. I meant what I said. I love you guys. You're my family. I'll come back.

And he would. But for the moment, he would concentrate on the warm sun, good food, Calypso's laugh and the fact that for the first time in his life, he had a future.


	74. Letter in Ink Returns!

Percy looked up at the ancient brick building and blinked.

'Well," he said morosely "let's see how long this one lasts"

Annabeth came up beside him and laughed.

"Don't worry, Seaweed Brain...I've been here all year and I've managed not to blow it up"

"Yeah," percy argued planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. "But you don't have my talent for destruction"

Annanbeth pushed him playfully and walked in.

She looked so good, Percy could hardly focus on his new school. That skirt was SO too high to be legal…

He was snapped back to the present when he heard splashing.

His ears perked up and Annabeth grinned. "I was saving this, as a surprised"

She walked up to a glass door that read POOL

"We have a pool?" Percy exclaimed 'Oh, man!"

He wasted no time running in and skidding on the slippery tiles, Annabeth following with rolling eyes.

It was a beutiful pool, maybe half Olympic sized with glistening blue water and a few boys doing laps.

SWIM TEAM MEET was clearly written on the chalkboard at the far end.

Percy smiled. "Sweet! You even have a swim team!"

He immediately went for the athletics board and read:

"lap time record….2:12….Jeff Moron"

"MORGAN" a voice called "Not Moron"

A tall boy with broad shoulders towered over Percy and Annabeth. Percy was far from the scrawny middle schooler who began at Camp half-Blood five years ago. He was tall, with broad shoulders, but this boy was taller and broader.

"That's debatable" Annabeth muttered then said "Hi, Jeff."

"Why, hello Annabeth" Jeff Moron said in a self satisfied way that made Percy REALLY wish his sword worked on mortals.

With a determined look he kicked off his shoes and twisted out of his shirt so he was bare but for his

Burmuda shorts.

"P-percy?" Annabeth blushed.

"Time."

"What?"

"Time me!"

"O...okay..."

Percy jumped gracefully in an arc and surfaced, paddling forward. Everyone was looking now.

One lap...two…

When he made it twenty he heaved up, panting.

"How...how'd I do?" he breathed.

"One minute, fifty eight seconds" she grinned.

Jeff Moron looked flabbergasted.

Percy smirked.

A boy came up out of the water, laughing.

He shrew him a blue hoodie that despite his dyslexia, he could read ad AS SWIM

"Congratulations, kid" he said "Welcome to the swim team."


	75. Letter in Ink Returns! 2

It was a boring afternoon of calculus class for Percy.

He and Annabeth were sitting side by side in the cramped room where two dozen seniors were tiredly writing down a formula for rate of change.

Only Annabeth was alert. She was writing notes furiously, but nudged them over so he could copy.

Gods, he loved that girl. Going to school with her meant not only always being with her, but never having a C average again.

Still, they couldn't chat as they usually did. They were assigned the front row and the teacher, Mrs. E, was strict about side talking.

So it was still a lazy, boring Friday afternoon.

Which of course, meant everything had to be turned upside down.

Suddenly, without warning, the fire alarm rang in the middle of Mrs. E's lecture on constants.

They all filed out into the New York street.

"What happened?" Percy murmured.

"A fire in the west wing" Annabeth murmured "I see the flame. That's the lab."

"Sweet, does that mean we don't have to do our chemistry practical?"

Annabeth nudged him "Percy, don't kid! This isn't a normal fire"

"What? Why not?"

"See the smoke? It should be rising, but instead it's engulfing like…."

"Mist!" Percy shouted "That's a monster?"

"Looks like" Annabeth muttered

Percy took Riptide out. "You distract the teachers. I'm going in"

"Not a chance" Annabeth hissed. "We go together"

She unsheathed her bone sword and quietly they both slipped in the side entrance.

As they made it to the chem lab they heard a strange sound….sobbing? But why would a monster cry? How could they?

Giving Annabeth a puzzled look, Percy slowly opened the door and charged.

"PERCY NO" Annabeth shrieked.

Riptide shivered to a halt inches from, not a monster but a boy. A boy no more than thirteen or fourteen.

Percy lowered his sword.

"Kid" he said "Didn't you hear the alarm? Get out of here!"

"Percy" Annabeth whispered "he WAS the alarm"

"What?"

"Look"

Percy looked and saw that the back of the boy's hand was bleeding. Ridptide had connected after all.

But that meant…

"I'm...I'm John..." the boy said shakily. "I...I started the fire….I don't know how..."

"John..." Annabeth said, taking his hand "Percy, we have to get him to camp. Now."

"You mean..."

"Yes" Annabeth said grimly "He's a demigod"


	76. Letter in Ink Returns! 3

Annabeth found herself in a familiar beach, weightless, wearing nothing but a white robe.

Panic surged through her until she realized she's been here before: this is a dream.

Just a dream.

"Hey, kiddo."

She turned around and saw proof she was dreaming.

There, in a white robe like hers was Luke, younger looking than she remembered, fresher faced and without his horrible scar.

"You again" she grumbled "Why do I keep dreaming about you?"

"You tell me, Annabeth" he chuckled, sitting next to her on the sand.

"You're not really him." she said defiantly.

"How do you know?"

"because the real you..." she gulped "I hate...I hate to admit it, but the real Luke, he'd be angry…he wound't be at peace"

It broke her heart to realize it

"Fine" Luke said unconcernedly "Go ahead and keep believing this is just a dream"

Annabeth snorted "After the year I've had, I'd love to settle for 'just dreams'."

Luke laughed, a happy, ringing laugh, the kind he had when he was younger, and it broke her heart all over again.

"I'm not proud of these dreams you know" she groused "I have a boyfriend now. I don't need dredging up...whatever we had"

Luke gave her a soft look. "I know, kiddo. But first love never goes away."

She took his hand. "Will it always be like this?' she asked desperately "Always no closer, always wondering what we could have been, always feeling guilty? Always..." she began to sob a little "Always having you in a part of my heart, when all parts of my heart should be Percy's?"

"No" Luke said confidently "Even the parts that are mine...they're his too"

"What?"

"Think about me. Right now."

She did. She tried to think about him before they made it camp, but all she could think was when he had set that scorpion on Percy and she had nursed him. When she and Percy encountered him on the Princess Andromeda. When she and Percy sat by him for his final moments of life.

"See, the thing about a broken heart, kiddo" Luke said "is that time doesn't heal all wounds, but it dulls it a bit. Soon, the part of your heart I'm in will be so full of him, you'll be able to let go. Just a bit. Wake up."

She gasped and shot up, instantly on high alert, breathing hard.

"Woah, there" Percy laughed. He was at the wheel of Paul's Prius. A small boy was in the backseat, and Annabeth was in the passengers seat, by Percy.

"You fell asleep" he chuckled "We've almost got John to camp. You have a nice dream?"

She thought of the time in Tartarus Percy imagined a future for them, how she had shared it, how different it was from the siren's call all those years ago.

She smiled.

"Yeah" she said finally "yeah, it was a good dream"


	77. Letter in Ink Returns! 4

A/N: This story has minor Trials of Apollo spoilers.

Rachel sat down on the lean, messy cot in her cave, ignoring the rainbow of paint splatters on the sheets.

She was still shaken by the last two days.

Apollo himself had come to her and he was…

Normal…

Human…

Cute.

She blushed at the thought, groaning as she hugged her pillow that looked like it had lost some paint ball fights.

She had thought she was immune to the god's charms. She saw every day what a dalliance with her lord could cost.

Teen pregnancy. Angry father. Having to say "whoops, Dad, my son has no father because he's an immortal being who won't pay child support!"

No way.

Not that it was all bad. Percy's mother, for instance, was very happy with a husband and a (very mortal) baby on the way.

But Apollo? He was the flightiest, least noble, least involved with his children, most attention deficit god there was.

At least she had thought so, before.

Before he came to her a scarred, bruised, tousled, confused, sweaty boy.

Before he was so human.

The way he blushed and stammered when she gave him the stink eye over the other oracles...he would have never done that before. He would have been open about his relations with other girls and would have laughed about it.

Now….

He had called her unique…

She groaned again. She had gone down this road before, with Percy.

She had thought there was something there, she really did.

But her "attraction" to him had just been her attraction to the world of gods and monsters, attraction to her destiny as the pythia, as the Oracle of Delphi.

And Percy had fallen for Annabeth in the end...

But maybe…

Maybe this was different.

Perhaps she had misread his nervousness, and the fond glances…

Maybe she was setting herself up for heartbreak again.

After all, after Apollo finished his trials with little Meg, he would be a god again, and would go back to ignoring her, go back to being better than her.

She got up restlessly and decided to do the only thing that cleared her head in these situations.

Paint.

She stared at the whited out canvas and finally knew what she wanted to paint on it.

She began with his golden frizzy hair, his acne, his (not as bad as he complained) flab…

Apollo as he is, she thought, not how he was or how he is going to be.

My Apollo, she thought. For now.


	78. Letter in Ink Returns! 5

"Set it there, Hearth"

Blitzen stood comfortably in the evening dark while inside an empty storefront pulsing with light, Hearthstone levitated a box around to a bare counter with an old fashioned cash-register.

He set it down and with a small, satisfied smile and signed Great trick. Learning a lot with the A-L-L F-A-T-H-E-R

"Yeah, yeah" Blitzen grumbled "Asgard is awesome, you've told me a million times"

Hearthstone grinned slyly You are jealous. Miss me.

Blitzen grunted moodily. "Do not. Don't be stupid."

It is a great honor Hearth signed.

"I know" Blizen sighed.

I have learned so much

"So you've told me"

But miss you. Not the same without you.

Blitzen turned red. He sat down. "Yeah...yeah you too, buddy."

We are different side of same coin. Light and dark. Same person. Does not feel same, going to sleep without you there.

Blitzen turned even redder, he couldn't bring himself to admit the last few days he missed Hearthstone's snores, his signing goodnight. Him being there soaking the sun's rays when he woke.

"Yeah, it's not the same. But then...nothing is the same, is it? Magnus in Valhalla, taking orders from a Valkyrie instead of the Capo...you working with Odin."

Hearthstone shook his head and signed furiously.

I owe you my life. I owe Odin much. You more.

Hearth smiled bashfully. He made a sign that looked like he was drinking something.

I love you.

Blitzen thought of how he brought his friend back to life when he fell into the dwarven realm. His silent, constant presence since.

He had know Hearth for so long, and he thought he sensed a nuance bigger than companionship in his friend's sign.

And he found himself feeling it too.

"I...I love you too" he almost breathed.

Hearthstone smiled widely. Nervously he came over, pulled Blitzen closer, and kissed him.

It was over before Blitzen knew it. Hearth wass smiling even wider and blushing. Again he signed I love you.

Blitzen couldn't help but smile with him. "You too, you goof, you too." he scowled with no force in it. "You better not tell Magnus and Sam about this, bud."

Hearthstone laughed silently. Definitely not

And he reached for Blitzen again.


End file.
